


Inside the Studio

by orphan_account



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Blood and Gore, Cannibalism, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Disappearance, F/M, Halloween fic 2018, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Polyamory Relationship, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Monsters, Multi, Self-Discovery, Self-Esteem Issues, TOPFL Halloween Challenge, Teratophilia, Trench Era, loss of a loved one, unsolved case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-07-25 10:35:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 31,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16195793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Of everyone in the world, why did it have to be him?





	1. Resurrection

**Author's Note:**

> Halloween fic, y'all. Expect part 2 this weekend. I mean, there will probably be more spooky stuff since it's spooky month but just letting everyone know!
> 
> Enjoy!

Tyler had gone missing nearly two and a half years ago.

Everyone thought he was fine. Tyler was healthy, happy, living his dreams out with his best friend as they toured around the world playing music. After three years of touring, Josh returned to Los Angeles, and Tyler returned home to start working on the next album. He and Josh kept in contact over text and hours of Facetime every single day to the point where Jenna had to come downstairs and remind him to do “people things,” like take a shower or eat.

Tyler knew he wouldn’t last a day without Jenna in his life. Josh knew this too and trusted Jenna with his life.

Which is why when Tyler walked into the woods and never returned, Josh had screamed and cried at her for hours and hours and hours, asking  _ how _ she could have let that happen.

“He was  _ your _ responsibility!” Josh shouted with tears streaming down his face. He knew at the time that talking about Tyler like he was an innocent child or a puppy was probably rude, but it felt right. Tyler, although brilliant, sometimes forgot he was a human being with needs. He was so dedicated to his craft, his music, that he put it over his hygiene and health. Jenna always had been much more patient when it came to Tyler’s lack of awareness. Josh felt like boiling water in a tea kettle, bubbling up when he could only deal with so much and screaming when he reached his limit.

Jenna never yelled. Not even when Josh was screaming at her for Tyler’s disappearance. 

And when Josh was sobbing, his arms curled around himself, snot dripping down his chin, Jenna did not yell. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him and held him tight.

“He’ll come home,” she whispered into his ear, her breath warm. “He’ll come home, I just know it.”

But he never did.

The whole world came to know about the case of Tyler Joseph, the musician who walked into the woods and never came out. Friends, family, even fans, were completely devastated. Josh had stayed silent, deleting all his social media, unable to deal with the thought of Tyler. He wanted to believe Tyler was still out there, alive, hiding, maybe, but Josh knew, deep down, that just wasn’t true. Tyler wasn’t a kid or a lost puppy. He was a grown man who was capable of taking care of himself if he tried. Tyler would have come back out if he wanted to.

The police began speculating suicide when they found Tyler’s notebooks. Jenna said those were lyrics. Josh said he wasn’t like that anymore.

The notebooks said otherwise.

And then, six months after Tyler went missing, his case was closed when they found scraps of his clothes and gallons of blood inside the forest. Josh had broken his hand from hitting the wall. Jenna stopped eating.

Their families grew apart.

While Josh had blamed Jenna, Tyler’s family blamed Josh. He knew they didn’t mean it, that they were grieving and lashing out, but it still hurt. 

At the funeral, it rained. Josh wasn’t surprised. Tyler always had been dramatic and would have loved the idea of a downpour at his funeral. It was almost like a piece of him was looking down over the grieving families and friends.

In a black suit, Jenna on his arm, Josh looked at Tyler’s empty casket and let his silent tears fall. The Josephs did not look at him, would not bat even a single eyelash towards his being. Not even Jay, who had once looked up to Josh like a brother. Jay and Tyler had been close, Josh knew that. Which is why it hurt even more.

He should have been there. If he had been there, in Ohio, with Tyler, perhaps things would have been different.

Jenna still had hope. “They never found his body,” she said, stirring her pasta, “he could still be out there.” Since Tyler’s disappearance, Jenna had turned towards cooking to keep herself busy. She did it constantly, always bringing dishes to Josh’s apartment and family. He was sure she brought food over to the Josephs as well. Sometimes he found himself wanting to break down their door apologizing, but also sometimes, he knew that would never work. They would still blame him for not being here for their son, for Josh’s best friend.

Today is the anniversary of Tyler’s disappear “#RIPTylerJoseph” is trending on Twitter and just seeing Tyler’s name makes Josh sick to his stomach. He brushes his phone to the side and pushes his fingers into his eyes.

Josh wasn’t doing much these days. All of Tyler’s unfinished files full of songs, riffs, and lyrics had been transferred to his computer, but Josh had yet to find himself able to open up the folder. Even hearing Tyler’s voice got to be too much for him when the dark thoughts that raided his mind reminded him that his best friend’s body was lost to the forest he so deeply loved.

He and Jenna stayed close. Josh had moved back to Ohio to spend time with her, picking the closest apartment complex he could find. Even two years later, his living room was still covered in boxes and his mattress sat askew on the floor. Half the time he was sleeping in Jenna’s living room anyways, so he never felt it necessary to make his shitty apartment feel like home. Home was where Jenna was. 

Where Tyler had been.

Josh’s phone starts ringing, causing him to pull his hands away and glance down at his buzzing cell. It’s Jenna.

Immediately, he tucks it between his shoulder and ear and stands up to pace the length of his living room. “Hey, love.”

“Josh,” her voice is sweet and he can practically hear her smile. “I invited Mark over for dinner tonight.”

“Oh,” is his reply. Since the band was no longer a thing, Mark and Josh had grown apart. Josh blamed himself for that. He had closed himself off from all his friends, with the exception of Jenna, and let his grief consume him. It wasn’t something he was proud of, but Josh couldn’t bring himself to reach out and fix his fallen friendships.

“I hope that’s okay. I figured we could talk about things.”

“Yeah, no, it’s cool. I’ll uhm, same time, right? Six?”

“Yep. But you’re more than welcome to come over earlier if you’d like.”

“Uh, yeah. Probably. I’ll grab a bottle of wine from Target and head on over.”

“Sounds great.” She pauses, sighs. “I know today has been... difficult for you.”

“That’s an understatement,” Josh mumbles, dropping down onto his sofa. Jenna chuckles sadly.

“It’s been hard for me too. Just know that he--” She gets a little choked up, causing her to stop and take a deep breath, “he’s looking out for us. Wherever he is. And we have each other.”

“Of course.”

“Good. Love you, Josh. See you soon.”

“Love you too,” he replies, ending the call and letting his phone fall into his lap. Josh can feel tears of his own welling up in his eyes. God. It had been two years and he still couldn’t get himself together. He thinks it’s because sometimes, he can still picture what Tyler would say or do if he was around. The dumb jokes he’d make. The way his eyes would light up when he started talking about music or a “really cool bass line” he had been playing with.

Josh would spend hours at his drum kit, banging away until his knuckles bled and tears stained his cheeks just thinking about Tyler out there in the woods, all alone, bleeding to death. It wasn’t fair. Josh should have been there.

He should have been there.

 

* * *

At Jenna’s, Josh kisses her cheek as he comes in and sets the bottle of Cabernet on the kitchen table. She’s made spaghetti and lit candles that smell like pumpkin pie. Fitting, considering it’s Autumn.

“Smells so good, Jen,” Josh compliments her as he slides his jacket off his shoulders and hangs it up on the rack behind the kitchen table. Her eyes crinkle at the corners.

“Thanks. It’s a new recipe. I’m hoping the pasta isn’t too rubbery-- it was the first time making it from scratch.”

“I’m sure it will be amazing, as always.” He forces a smile for her. Jenna forces one back. They are used to communicating in forced emotions. If they let the sadness waft around any longer, both thought they might go mad.

Josh makes his way into the living room to sit down when he notices all the pictures of Jenna and Tyler in them are laid down flat, hidden from view. His forced smile turns into a voluntary frown that Jenna notices.

“Too hard,” she says quietly. “Not today.”

“It’s okay,” he nods, patting the cushion next to him. Jenna joins his side and leans into his chest as he wraps an arm around her shoulders. His fingers begin to play with the fabric of her sweater as she sniffs, staring blanking at the dark screen of the television.

“I try so hard to be strong because I know it’s what he would have wanted. You know how optimistic he tried to be about life, especially when his depression was really bad. But sometimes, when I wake up in the mornings, it feels like a bad dream. And I roll over to feel him next to me only to find his side of the bed empty.” Her words tremble like the water droplets Josh and Tyler used to hit off their drums during concerts. His stomach stirs with pain. “I get lonely, sometimes.”

“I get lonely too,” Josh reassures her, beginning to gently rub her arm with the heel of his hand, “don’t worry. That’s why I’m always over here bothering you.”

She laughs lightly. “You could never bother me, Josh.”

“Good,” he replies, right as the doorbell rings. They share a look before Jenna hops off the sofa and makes her way to the front door.

“Probably Mark,” she guesses, proving to be correct when she opens the door and Mark pulls her into a hug.

“Jenna!” He exclaims, his hands tight around her waist, “God, it is so good to see you.”

“Good to see you too, Mark.” Jenna steps away, her hands clasped at the waist as Mark clears his throat and raises a hand to awkwardly wave at Josh.

“Hey, man.”

“Hey,” Josh says back, lowering his eyes to the ground. He honestly has no clue how Mark has been processing things since the funeral.

“Well,” Jenna cuts the tension, her sweet voice a knife, “now that we’re all here, time to eat, huh? Josh brought wine.”

“Cool,” Mark exclaims, following Jenna into the kitchen. Josh reluctantly stands, his stomach twisting with anxiety at the mere thought of having to make small talk with Mark. Especially since Josh had been a huge asshole by shutting him out.

“Jesus, man,” says Mark as Josh slides into his seat, “Hundred Acre?”

“I thought you were going to Target,” Jenna adds, pressing her lips together. As much as she loved giving gifts, Jenna always had a weird thing about receiving them, especially when she knew they cost a lot. Josh had been giving her a lot lately. He felt like it was the least he could do after spending all his time in her house like he lived here.

A shrug. “It’s whatever. Not like I’m spending money elsewhere. And I have it, so.” He clears his throat uncomfortably while Jenna busies herself by scooping pasta into bowls for both men. Josh looks over at Mark, who is not even trying to hide his gaze, studying him like one of his photo shoots. In discomfort, Josh’s eyes return to the tablecloth.

“Guess we better make this count, then.” Jenna sits down in her chair and smiles. “Shall we say grace?”

“Oh.” Josh didn’t realize that was still something Jenna did. Sure, her and Tyler were religious people, but ever since Tyler’s passing, Jenna hadn’t once gone to church. Eventually, Josh lost faith in there even being anything above.

“Sure,” Mark replies, reaching out for Josh’s hand. Josh takes it, barely wrapping his fingers around the back of Mark’s hand, as Jenna takes his other.

“Our Lord in Heaven, we thank thee for our food and for the friendships I’ve had over the years to keep me sane. We ask that you keep an eye on Tyler for us because I can’t imagine the trouble he’s getting into up there.” She laughs a little. “Just, thank you. For everything. Amen.”

“Amen,” Josh mumbles, tucking his hands back into his lap. He glances over at Jenna briefly, just to make sure she’s okay, before turning his attention to the wine. “I can pour.”

“There’s a corkscrew in the kitchen,” Jenna says, starting to stand up, “I can grab it.”

“No, it’s fine!” Josh jumps to his feet to beat her from leaving her seat. He’d like to think he was doing a kind thing by offering, but really, he’s just trying to avoid conversation with Mark. “I’ll get it. You just, uhm, enjoy your food.”

“It’s great,” Mark speaks through a full mouth. Josh disappears into the kitchen.

His heart is beating so quickly, he feels like it might jump out of his body. With a few quick breaths, Josh begins to open the drawers for the corkscrew haphazardly, leaving them all slightly open. He can’t imagine it’ll bother Jenna too much, considering Tyler used to do the same thing.

And, of course, it happens to be in the very last place he looks. This time, Josh is thankful, because every second in here is one more he doesn’t have to be out  _ there. _ Leaning against the sink, his fingers wrapped tightly around the corkscrew, Josh sighs. He didn’t expect this to be so...  _ hard. _ It was Mark. Mark was his friend, someone he had spent all his time with for years and years. Josh knew he was going to have to apologize; perhaps that’s why he was so bothered. Giving apologies never had been his strong suit.

Just then, a loud howl comes from outside, stealing his attention away from Mark’s presence. He leans closer, narrowing his eyes, to stare into the darkness of Jenna’s backyard, to stare into the woods Tyler had died in. Were there wolves in Ohio? He wasn’t sure if he knew the answer to that.

And then, there’s a flash of grey. Startled, Josh stumbles backward, the corkscrew crashing to the floor loudly below. It prompts Jenna’s chair to squeak as she leaves it to join Josh in the kitchen.

“Are you okay?” She asks, her eyebrows knitted in worry. Josh bends down to pick up the fallen object and nods his head.

“Yeah. Sorry. I thought I saw something.”

“It was probably a coyote or something,” she suggests, shrugging her shoulders. “ I hear howling all the time. Ohio has those, right?”

“I’m not very knowledgeable on the species living in Ohio woods,” Josh admits, “but, maybe. Either that or a wolf.”

“I don’t think there are wolves here, hun,” she offers a comforting smile and nods back towards the dining room, “are you doing okay being around Mark?”

“Yeah,” Josh chews on the inside of his cheek, “I think.”

“It’ll be okay.” She moves to loop her arm around Josh’s, presses a kiss to his cheek, and steers him out, leaving the howls and flashes of grey in the woods behind them.

 

* * *

The rest of the night goes surprisingly well. Mark talks about the new projects he’s been working on, filming and taking photos for other bands now that Twenty One Pilots was no more. Josh is glad Mark has been able to find work and continue living because he certainly has not.

Josh even gets the courage to apologize. “I’m sorry, dude. For cutting you out. I shouldn’t have done that. I had no right to get so upset at everyone.”

“It’s okay,” Mark tells him, pulling Josh into a hug, “we all cope in different ways. Just know, it was really good to see you again. And I know there are lots of other people who feel the same as I do.”

“Not Tyler’s family,” Josh mutters sadly. Mark sighs.

“Yeah. It’s not your fault though, you know that right? It’s not. It isn’t anyone’s fault.”

Josh is silent for a few moments afterward as he reflects. “You don’t think Tyler killed himself though, do you? He was... he was happy. At least, I thought he was.”

Mark looks at his hands and begins to pick at his fingernails. “Honestly? I dunno, Josh. I don’t want to think that he did, but... who knows. Maybe he was struggling and we didn’t notice.”

“So... maybe it is our fault.”

“I thought he was happy too if it means anything.”

“They never found his body. Maybe... maybe he’s still alive.”

Mark smiles sadly. “Yeah, maybe.”

And later, after Mark has left and Josh is helping Jenna clean up, he asks her the same thing.

“Do you think Tyler is really dead?”

She freezes, her sponge clenched hand stopping mid-wipe. Josh leans against the countertops and folds his arms across his chest, pushing the toe of his sneaker into the ground.

“I mean, ‘cause, at first, you told me you didn’t... think so, and then tonight, at dinner, when you said grace--”

“I don’t know,” Jenna interrupts, her tone snippy. Josh doesn’t mind, because he knows he brought up something he probably shouldn’t have. “I don’t want to think he is. But... he probably is at this point. Where else could he be? Do you really think he would just  _ leave?”  _ She scoffs bitterly, her eyes filling with tears. She lets her hair fall into her face to cover her crying. “I thought everything was okay. We talked about having kids, Josh. He was working so hard on a new album, you guys talked every day, he smiled all the fucking time--” She has to pause to catch her breath. Josh steps forward to gently touch her shoulder, just to let her know he’s there, and he’s listening.

“You know, the day before he disappeared, he had told me he bought plane tickets for us to go on vacation. He was so excited, kept kissing me, kept talking about how it was a surprise and he wanted to to be romantic. But when the police went through his emails, his things, y’know, they didn’t find any confirmations for plane tickets or hotel bookings.”

Josh frowns. “Did you tell the police that?”

“No. I thought, maybe, he just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. You know how Tyler is-- scatterbrained, all over the place, constantly getting distracted. And then, the more I thought about it, thought about how he was phrasing things... it sounded like he was making plans, amends, like he somehow knew he wasn’t going to be on Earth anymore.”

“So... are you thinking suicide?”

She doesn’t answer right away, resorting to slowly shaking her head and staring out the window at the swaying branches of the trees. “Ty... he always talked to me if he was struggling. You know how open he was about mental health. It just... it doesn’t seem right. But he started giving things away-- clothes, his little action figures, collectibles that had been downstairs in his studio. He went to his parents' house a lot, hung out with Jay. He knew just as much as I did how much Jay looked up to him. I can’t help but feel like Tyler knew, that maybe he got caught up in some bad stuff.”

Josh blinks. “Are you insinuating  _ murder, _ Jenna?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” her words run together as she begins to backpedal on what she said. “I just... I think something happened that we didn’t know about.”

“But the police went through all his stuff, Jen. If they would have found anything suspicious, they would have let us know.”

“Maybe so.” She shrugs her shoulders. “I just... I’ve never had a good feeling about Tyler’s disappearance. He told me he’d was going for a walk to clear his head. I know the woods was always the place he’d go when he wanted to get some inspiration and clarity for writing. He knew those woods, so I didn’t worry. But I should have. I should have.”

“Oh, love,” Josh replies, pulling her away from the sink and into a giant hug. “It wasn’t your fault, okay? It wasn’t.” She sniffs into his shoulder as Josh continues trying to comfort her. He isn’t really thinking, just spewing words he think will make her feel better. “As much as we were on Tyler’s ass about taking care of himself, we just gotta remember that he was an adult. He made his own choices, and there was only so much we could have done.”

“But did we do enough?” Jenna speaks into his shirt, her voice hoarse. Josh knows she’s about to break down because he is too. Every time they talked about Tyler, it got like this.

“I wanna say yes. So badly.”

“I know.” She collects herself, pulls away from Josh’s hug, and smiles. “That’s enough sadness for tonight. I actually... wanted to ask you something.”

Josh knits his eyebrows. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”

Jenna returns to the dishes. It’s what she feels comfortable doing, what helps her cope, so Josh doesn’t stop her, only takes the plates from her and places them in the dishwasher. “I... I think I’m going to leave for a while, get out of Ohio. Just visit my parents.”

“Okay.” He wished he could get away sometimes, but it was always Jenna that kept him here. “When are you thinking of leaving?”

“Tomorrow.” Jenna sounds almost... regretful, like she feels bad for dropping this all on him. Josh hopes she doesn’t think that. If anyone deserved a vacation, it was Jenna. “I bought my ticket earlier today. One way.”

“So you don’t know when you’ll be back?”

“No.” She wipes her hands on a dishtowel and turns around to face him. “I just... I was wondering if you’d wanna house sit for me. Get the mail, keep the house a home, lived in, and stuff. Maybe go downstairs and see Tyler’s studio. I haven’t been down there since....” A pause. “Since he disappeared. It’s probably covered in dust and stuff, but it might help.”

“I haven’t looked at the music he recorded. The ones that the police gave me from his computer. I just can’t bring myself to listen to his voice.”

“It’s okay,” Jenna promises, stepping forward to hold him in her arms. “I haven’t been able to either.”

“Can I take you to the airport?”

“I’d like that. Would you be okay with staying the night?”

His smile is warm. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Cool. I haven’t moved Tyler’s clothes from his dresser. I’m sure he’s stolen some sweats of yours, so, you’ll be able to find something.”

“Do you think they still smell like him?”

She nods her head. “Yeah, I bet they still do.” Jenna’s hands slide back around Josh’s neck, pulling his head down to catch him in a kiss. Josh kisses her back because it feels right. Jenna always had known the special bond Tyler and Josh shared, and she allowed them to experiment with each other but never had she kissed him like this. Kissing her reminded Josh of Tyler’s kisses.

“Feels right,” she mumbles against his lips, “like he’s here with us.”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

The two abandon the rest of the dishes for an early evening in. Jenna turns on the television while Josh changes, but he finds himself unable to even touch Tyler’s dresser. He can see the dust on it, so Jenna must feel the same way.

And so he sleeps in his boxers, knowing Jenna won’t care. They snuggle up close, Jenna laying her head on Josh’s bare chest. There’s a rerun of  _ Seinfeld _ playing on TV, but the volume is so low that he really can only hear the laugh track.

Jenna begins to trace her finger across Josh’s stomach, causing him to tense up. She jerks her hand away.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s...” he swallows nervously, “it’s okay, really. I just... it’s been a while.”

“Yeah,” Jenna agrees, nodding her head. “People have told me I need to get back into dating, but I just... I can’t. I really thought that when we got married... that would be it. We would live happily ever after.”

“Kissing him was like taking ecstasy.” They share a chuckle. As close as they had gotten over the two years since Tyler’s disappearance, never had they sat snuggled up in what had once been Tyler’s bed too. Here Josh was, sitting in Tyler’s spot, holding Tyler’s wife in his arms. To anyone outside their inner circle, that would have been a horrible thing to do, but to Josh, he knew Tyler would have wanted him to take care of her.

“It was,” she agrees, her painted nails back on his stomach. Jenna’s hair tickles his chest. “You made him so happy, Josh. I hope you knew that.”

“He made me happy too.” 

“Tyler was so scared you would feel abandoned when we got married. It kept him up at night. And when I told him he didn’t need to change anything, that he could continue to love the both of us in any way he pleased, I think the idea of having power made him second guess himself about everything.”

“I remember.” He and Tyler had never put labels on what they called themselves, even when they first met and fell hard for each other. They would spend cold nights in the van, kissing, holding each other, annoying Mark and Michael to no end. The first time they had kissed again after Tyler got married scared the crap out of him. He had cried, told Josh he was sorry, that he didn’t want to make him upset. Josh had promised Tyler would never upset him, not purposefully.

“Once he got comfortable, it was like everything fell into place. You guys were my boys. And I loved both of you so much. I  _ still _ love the both of you with all my heart. All I ever wanted was for Tyler to be happy. And when I think about what happened to him, I feel like I failed him.”

“You didn’t. You were his everything.”

“We were his everything,” Jenna corrects him, tilting her chin up to see his face. Her eyes are still wet. “You were just as important to him as I was. And Josh, without you, I don’t know how I would have gotten through this.”

“I feel the exact same way.” This time, Josh is the one to initiate a kiss. Jenna slides her hands to grasp at his waist, adjusting her position to better reach his mouth. Josh cups her cheek and closes his legs as he feels his body beginning to react to his first kiss in years. Even though it’s Jenna, and he loves her, he’s still thinking about Tyler. And he knows Jenna is too. It’s what’s bringing them together, fueling their kiss, giving them the incentive to continue.

Jenna pulls away long enough to take her shirt off. She isn’t wearing a bra, but Josh keeps his eyes level, not wanting to disrespect her.

“Are you sure?” He asks.

“I want to,” she nods, “if you do. I just think it’ll help us. To know. To feel.”

“Our emotional connection.”

“Tyler would have wanted it. Wanted us to take care of each other.”

“You’re right,” Josh agrees wholeheartedly. Jenna kisses him again, her hands guiding his own to touch her breasts. His breath catches a little.

“It’s okay,” she whispers. “It’s okay, J.”

“Yeah,” he gasps, thumbing her nipple, “yeah.”

Slowly, Jenna climbs into his lap and parts her lips to allow Josh’s tongue entrance. He can feel himself growing harder, especially when she helps him peel his boxers away.

And although it started as a way to mourn Tyler, by the end of it, Jenna is all he can think about.

 

* * *

The next morning, Josh drives Jenna to the airport. She only has one suitcase, her things thrown in without much thought. Josh isn’t too worried, though. He knows she’ll be able to take care of herself.

“Keep in touch, please,” he asks her, leaning down to kiss her forehead. Jenna smiles.

“Of course. Keep our home warm, okay?”

“I promise.”

“And go down into his studio. I really think it’ll help.”

“I’ll try.” As much as it’ll pain him to see Tyler’s things untouched, it might be something he needs to finally close the loop. Being with Jenna was the first thing. Perhaps this is what will help him move on.

“Love you,” she tells him, pulling him in for one last hug.

“I love you too.”

 

* * *

Josh doesn’t go back to Jenna and Tyler’s home right away but stops at his apartment to gather up his things. He’s always wanted to tell his apartment to fuck off, anyway.

At the Joseph household, Josh dumps his things in the master bedroom and takes a moment to study what had been Tyler’s dresser. With a long sigh, he steps forward and drags the tip of his index finger through the thin layer of dust. If Josh thought he was sad, he couldn’t even imagine how Jenna felt constantly being reminded that Tyler was no longer around.

She was strong; so much stronger than he was.

The first drawer is full of Tyler’s underwear. With a scoff, Josh closes it and continues down to pull open the second containing Tyler’s shirts. There’s a few Josh recognizes instantly, ones that Tyler wore practically every day, and even some that Josh had been looking for everywhere. Of course Tyler took them. Tyler was constantly asking for Josh’s hoodies and sweats because they smelled like him. And Josh could never say no to Tyler.

The last drawer contains his shorts and jeans. Josh pauses to rub his fingers over the fabric before he shuts it. Jenna was right. His clothes do still smell like him. Jenna must have not ever touched this thing, even after all these years.

Afterward, Josh pads into the kitchen to pour himself a drink. Tyler wasn’t a drinker, but Jenna had some wine lining the top of the refrigerator. He decides on a white wine and fills the cup halfway before turning to approach the basement door. It really shouldn't be this hard. It feels like he’s walking to his death instead of Tyler’s basement studio.

But he had spent so much time down there, by Tyler’s side, working on music. And the idea that he would never get to do that again was heartbreaking to him.

Josh knew Tyler would have wanted him to continue playing music, and perhaps Josh would, later in life. Playing with anyone except his best friend didn’t feel right. For now, he was still dealing with Tyler’s loss.

The lights flicker when Josh turns them on. Glass in hand, he begins to descend the carpeted stairs until he reaches the bottom, the corner of a wall obstructing Josh’s full view of the studio. He straightens his shoulders, takes a sip of his drink, and steps forward.

Jenna was right. It looks untouched like Josh is staring at a photograph. It makes his chest ache as he makes his way around, touching the iMac, the keyboard, pushing away dust from the tabletop. Even his little figurines are still in their original spots, and Josh finds himself smiling as he picks up Bowser only to feel it in his hand.

Everyone thought Tyler was this bold, cool, intimidating dude, but in reality, he was a giant, dumb nerd. And Josh loved him for it.

“Nope,” he speaks out loud, setting the Bowser figure back down. Josh sets his drink down on the desk before returning upstairs to get retrieve a duster. It doesn’t feel right to let Tyler’s studio disappear in dust or decay away. This piece of Tyler deserved to be kept alive.

When he runs the duster over the computer mouse, the monitor blinks on. Josh frowns, surprised the computer is even still on after all this time of disuse and finds himself abandoning his chore to sit in Tyler’s leather office chair. He puts in Tyler’s password, it being something Tyler always shared with him, trusted Josh with, and stares at the desktop.

It’s a picture of him with Tyler, one of the last ones they ever took together. Josh feels tears well in his eyes but keeps himself together. He needs to be strong. It’s what Tyler would have wanted.

The mouse hovers over the folder marked  _ Trench. _ Josh closes his eyes, bites his tongue, raises himself up, before double clicking.

Most of it looks normal, which isn’t surprising. Josh isn’t sure why he was expecting to see something wild or crazy. A lot of the songs are ones Josh was aware of and had helped work on. They even had made a music video for one of the songs.

He moves the mouse to click on “Jumpsuit” and leans back in his chair for iTunes to load. Josh keeps his hands tucked under his chin, his breathing uneven, as the song starts. It’s not perfect, and definitely hadn’t been mastered yet, but just the sound of Tyler’s voice alone is enough for him to have a mental breakdown.

His entire body shakes with each sob and he slams his head down onto the desk to cry into his arms. It wasn’t fair. Josh would have given his own life for Tyler. Tyler had spent his whole life fighting to be alive and for him to die young anyway pissed Josh off.

Josh sits up, wipes his eyes with the bottom of his shirt, and sniffs. He looks back at the computer screen to exit out of iTunes, to close out the file, and return to his dusting.

But before he closes the folder, something catches his eye. There’s a file underneath the last song that isn’t a wav format. It definitely had not been there when Tyler had sent him a screenshot of the folder right before he disappeared.

The file is a note titled “The Woods.” His Adam’s Apple bobbing rapidly, Josh double clicks it and leans forward. Tyler had never mentioned anything about a song called “The Woods.” It didn’t make sense since they already had a song called “Forest.”

The thing that shocks him the most is that it isn’t song lyrics, but a single sentence that reads:

_ I am gone but never left; you can find me in the woods. _

Goddammit. Even after death, Tyler was being cryptic.

“God,” Josh mutters under his breath, “you can never make this easy for me, can you, Ty?” It felt like he was reading one of those stupid riddles you could find in a kids magazine. Those things always pissed him off.

But it’s the words “gone but never left” that really have Josh puzzled. Was Tyler insinuating that he was still here, even after his disappeared? Did Tyler know he wasn’t going to return when he walked into the forest that crisp, October day?

Maybe Jenna had been right. Maybe the police had thought it was another song and hadn’t given it a second thought.

Maybe Tyler was still alive.

Josh reaches into the drawer of Tyler’s desk to retrieve a pen and a post-it note to sloppily scribble down Tyler’s riddle. He shoves it into his pocket and returns to his chores.

 

* * *

As Josh is getting ready for bed, he finds himself in the kitchen, staring at the woods that back up to the backyard. He rubs the crinkled post-it note with Tyler’s riddle on it in between his fingers, and as stupid as it sounds, it feels like Tyler is with him, looking over his shoulder, just like old times. Flashes of grey in the forest again steal his attention away from his best friend and make him think back to his conversation with Jenna. Were there really wolves or coyotes in the woods?

Another howl causes him to jump a good foot into the air. It’s followed by a loud screech that sounds like nothing Josh has ever heard in his entire life. A tingle settles at the base of his spine that Josh knows for certain he does  _ not _ like at all.

That night, before he goes to sleep, he searches wolves and coyotes in Ohio. Most websites say sightings aren’t common, but sometimes coyotes could be spotted from backyards.

Josh wants to believe it was a coyote he heard-- but that screech?

That wasn’t an animal.

And it  _ definitely  _ wasn’t human.

 

* * *

The next morning, Josh stares out the back door while he sips his coffee. Heaps of orange and yellow leaves twirl to the ground below when the wind blows through them. Josh narrows his eyes, trying to see past the fallen leaves into the forest for coyotes. Obviously, he knows he isn’t going to see anything wandering around in during the day, but he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about that screech he heard. Josh could barely even sleep.

He figures he’ll spend the day in town, buying a few groceries and adding to the Joseph alcohol collection (or lack thereof). Getting out will be good for him.

Josh downs the rest of his coffee, sets the mug down on the table and returns his attention to the backyard. He tries to put himself in Tyler’s shoes and imagine what he was thinking of when he walked into those woods and never returned. 

But Josh doesn’t know what Tyler’s intentions where. He doesn’t know if Tyler was scared, happy, or even felt nothing at all. All he knows is the outcome.

“Tyler,” Josh murmurs, tucking his hands under his armpits, “Tyler, Tyler, Tyler.”

 

* * *

The more he thinks about it, the more likely it seems that Tyler’s riddle was a suicide note. Josh didn’t want to believe it, because the police had never found a body, but maybe there was a chance that Tyler was still out there somewhere, rotting, becoming one with the Earth.

He really doesn’t want to think about it, but his stupid brain loved thinking of things he really didn’t want to.

After a long day of grocery shopping, Josh busies himself with making dinner. He hadn’t cooked on his own in a long, long time. There wasn’t time for it on the road, and after Tyler disappeared... Josh couldn’t bring himself to do it-- or anything, really.

It isn’t like Josh would call himself a super chef; he was nothing compared to Jenna, but as he sat frying pork chops, he’d be lying if he wasn’t feeling just the tiniest bit of pride for cooking.

He understands why Jenna felt lonely. The house wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small, either; Tyler had wanted only the best for Jenna. But now that she was the only one here, it couldn’t have felt nice to live all alone.

The clinks of his knife and fork echo in the silence of the setting house as he eats. Outside, the wind stirs. It sounds like it might start storming soon.

He hears another screech come from the backyard, the same one he heard the night before. Josh wonders if Jenna ever wondered what was out there screaming in the woods, and then wonders if she ever thought it was something that could have eaten her husband.

Almost like she knew Josh was thinking about her, Jenna calls him. He lets his fork clatter to the plate as he practically leaps out of his chair to grab his phone from the middle of the table.

“Josh!” She exclaims loudly. It sounds like she’s in a busy place.

“Hey, Jen. Got to Nashville okay?”

“Yeah, Mom and I went out for dinner. How are you doing?”

“Good. I got some groceries, made myself dinner for the first time in... jeez, forever.”

“That’s so awesome to hear! Do anything else?”

“I visited Tyler’s studio.”

“You did?” She pauses. “Good.”

“I dusted it. Even listened to one of the new songs.”

“I’m so proud of you, Josh. You’ve accomplished so much in one day.”

“Yeah.” He smiles to himself before clearing his throat. “Jen, did you ever hear like, weird screeching from the woods at night?”

“It’s just the coyotes. Nothing to be scared of. They’ve been howling a lot this past year.”

“Sure, sure.” Josh looks back toward the window, where it’s started to drizzle. He thinks about Tyler’s note. “I found a note on Tyler’s computer with the Trench songs. It... kind of sounded like a suicide note.”

“What?” Jenna yells. “I can’t hear you, Josh. I think the service here is getting worse. I’ll call you tomorrow!”

“No, Jen, wait!” It’s too late. With a groan, Josh sets his phone down.

The police gave him those files. Maybe if Josh had looked earlier, they could have found more. Maybe they even could have found Tyler in time.

Another screech roars from the woods. Josh feels like he might be going crazy because he finds himself actually sliding his arms through his jacket sleeves and pushing himself through the french doors to the backyard.

The wind is starting to pick up as Josh makes his way towards the forest, using the flashlight on his phone to avoid tripping over fallen branches. There are two more screeches this time, simultaneously. Josh sucks in a breath. He knows what he’s doing is incredibly stupid, but he can’t help but feel like the woods will have the answers he desires. Besides, he doesn’t think those are coyotes in the woods.

The rain begins to pick up the deeper into the forest he ventures. Josh wraps his arms around himself, pulls his jacket tighter around his shoulders, and marches forward.

The next screech he hears is far too close for his liking and causes him to walk into a tree. As he rubs his nose, something runs past him, causing his phone to plummet to the grass below.

“Hello?” Josh feels like an idiot. Obviously, no animal is going to answer him out here. He thinks about how stupid he is as he bends down to pick up his phone and steadies himself before raising the flashlight.

At that moment, Josh wishes it had been coyotes wandering around the woods because what he finds himself nearly nose to nose with is  _ definitely _ not human.

It’s tall and lean, with sickly grey skin, pointed ears, mustard yellow eyes, and giant, sharp fangs that protrude from its mouth. It bends down on all fours and screams at him.

“Fuck!” Josh yells, immediately bolting. He was an idiot. Why did he come out in the woods alone at  _ night? _ What the actual fuck is  _ wrong with him? _

From behind, the creature screams again as it scurries up the trees and drops down back in front of him. Josh stumbles to the ground, his phone landing in a pile of wet leaves, plunging the woods into darkness. He scrambles backward on his bottom, trying to catch his balance to run deeper into the forest. His phone doesn’t matter anymore. Josh only cares about his life.

Maybe this is why Tyler never came out of the woods. He was eaten by whatever the actual  _ fuck _ this thing was.

This is bad. It’s all he can think about as he runs, his breathing heavy, his heart pounding against his chest. Tree branches tug at his arms, tearing through the fabric of his jacket. Josh can still hear the howls behind him. It sounds like there are more of those creatures out here than just the one.

Something grabs him by the hood of his jacket, yanking him onto his back. He screams as the creature sinks its teeth into his leg. A clawed hand wraps around his throat as the yellow-eyed...  _ thing _ screeches into his face.

Josh thinks about Jenna. She had trusted him. Loved him. And here he was, about to die, because he had to go into the woods like an idiot.

He closes his eyes and waits, but death never comes. Something slams into the creature, sending it spiraling into a tree. It’s hard to make out the figure as it howls back. Lightning cracks above them, giving Josh a glimpse at two other of the creatures who join the third’s side. A fourth continues to scream, hidden in the shadows. They scream back and forth for what feels like forever before the three scamper off. Josh’s eyes have adjusted enough to see that the fourth creature doesn’t have the same, long and skinny limbs as the other three did, but it still sat back on its haunches, its shoulders pointed back in defense as a wolf did with its ears. Josh scrambles against a tree and holds his breath.

Slowly, the creature approaches him, and once Josh can see who it is under the moonlight, he about passes out.

Despite his yellow eyes, or his pointed ears, or the row of jagged teeth protruding from the right side of his face, it’s still Tyler.

He’s  _ alive. _

“Tyler,” Josh’s voice cracks and his eyes fill with tears, “oh my God, Tyler.”

He offers Josh a hand to help him stand up. His fingernails look more like claws and his clothes are torn to shreds. Tyler doesn’t say anything, only tilts his chin in a gesture for Josh to follow him and scampers ahead on all fours. Josh follows, because what else can he do? His just found out his best friend was alive after thinking he was dead all this time. He stumbles, a sharp pain in his leg, but continues forward.

Tyler leads Josh to a rock overhang that leads into a cave. Josh sits down as Tyler lights a fire. By the faces he’s making, Josh can tell that this version of Tyler is not a fan of light, but is sacrificing his comfort to try and keep Josh warm.

Josh can’t tear his gaze away from Tyler’s ghastly face. Half of it looks normal, with his greasy hair falling in waves over his forehead, but his skin is pale and covered in pinkish-purple bruises. He has dried blood across his jaw, down his neck, in between the crevices of his teeth. The other half of his face is the scary bit.

The monster bit.

His skin is ripped up all the way to his ear, providing his sharp, jagged teeth places to extend from the rents. His skin is so pale, paler than Josh has ever seen before, and his cheeks are sunken in. The tip of his long, pointed ear pokes out from his mess of unruly hair and his irises are the color of honey mustard. His collarbones protrude from his skin where the tatters of his shirt hang and Josh can barely make out his tattoos underneath all the blood and dirt sticking to his skin.

Tyler looks at him. “Hey.”

His voice is rough and hoarse. Josh assumes so since he probably hasn’t been doing much talking over the past two years.

“I...  _ God.” _ Josh rubs his eyes and scoots closer to the fire. “After all this time, all you have to say is ‘hey?’”

Tyler grunts. “I... it... uhm, been awhile.” He hides the warped side of his face from the flames and sighs. “Sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.” Josh doesn’t know what to say. He knows this is hard for the both of them.

Tyler is much skinnier than Josh remembers. His arms and legs aren’t as long and limber as the other creatures were, but they are long enough for him to move on all fours like a predator. He has blood caked underneath his claw-like fingernails.

“I’m... so sorry. I don’t know what to say, or how I even... start a conversation like this. I... everyone... thought you were dead.”

Tyler bows his head. “Yeah.”

“Have you been living here the whole time? What have you been eating?”

He doesn’t reply. This whole thing is stressing Josh out. He doesn’t know what those things were or what Tyler has become. And he doesn’t want to freak Tyler out with a bunch of questions, either.

“What were those things, Tyler? And how come... how come you never told us you were alive?”

“Can’t answer.” He’s thinking his way through his sentences, trying to remember how to speak. “I... need to think.”

“Can we go back to the house?”

“No. Not safe.”

Right. There were monsters outside.

Josh runs a hand through his short hair. “Okay, well, guess we’re spending the night here.”

Tyler nods. “I have to... uhm. Eat.”

“Okay, yeah. Sure. Whatever you need to do, man.”

“Keep warm,” Tyler gives him a command as he rises to two legs, his long, skinny arms wrapping around his fragile body. “You... safe here. The others...” His sunken cheeks swell with air that disappears as he exhales, “my territory. They leave you be.”

He’s getting better at speaking already, Josh notes. He’s very impressed, considering Tyler probably has been leaning more towards animal instinct these past two years than anything remotely human related.

Tyler’s footsteps are loud and inhuman as he shuffles out of the cave. Josh hears some more screeching and pulls himself closer to the flame. He knows Tyler might be some kind of... monster, but it’s okay.

Josh knows Tyler would never hurt him.

 

* * *

To say he even got a “little bit” of sleep would be an understatement. Josh doesn’t sleep one bit because he’s too busy huddling close to the dying embers of the fire, his jacket zipped up to his chin, his arms wrapped around himself to provide a little bit of body heat. Outside, the creatures continue to screech and scream at each other. Tyler sits at the cave opening, marking his territory, protecting Josh.

The one time Josh does manage to fall asleep, he’s woken up to the sound of chewing and finds Tyler hunched over the carcass of a squirrel, using his fangs to rip through flesh and bone. The sounds alone are enough for Josh to roll over onto his hands and knees and vomit up his dinner. Tyler is by his side in an instant, resting a blood-covered claw onto his back. Josh gags again, his stomach reeling as he slinks away from Tyler’s touch and backs against the cool wall of the cave.

That wasn’t normal. Tyler shouldn’t have been eating squirrels like that. He shouldn’t even have been eating squirrels, period!

“Sorry,” Tyler tells him, “I will... explain. Promise.”

“Back at the house,” Josh coughs out, using the back of his hand to wipe away the puke at the corners of his mouth. “It’s safe. We can talk.”

Tyler shakes his head. “No.”

“Tyler, please. I can get you cleaned up. I bet it’s been a while since you’ve bathed, huh?”

He sighs. “Jenna.”

“She’s in Nashville. It’ll just be me and you, man.”

He’s thinking about it, leaning back on his hind legs. A hand moves to touch an infected cut on his arm. His eyes flicker to the blood soaking Josh’s pant leg.

Finally, Tyler says, “okay.” Josh sighs with relief.

“Jenna’s bound to have first aid stuff at home, right?”

His eyes flicker with a frosted, white film, hiding his yellow irises from view. Tyler turns to look out the mouth of the cave.

“I’m not...”

“What?” Josh sits up and scoots away from his pile of puke, an itch running down his spine. “It’s okay. What’s up?”

He shakes his head. “Can’t. Rem-m-m...”

“Remember? It’s okay. It’s okay. We’ll just, go back to the house when the sun rises. Those monsters won’t bother us during the day, right? I can only assume, since... you didn’t like the fire very much.”

Tyler narrows his eyes and his face, the human part, at least, fills with pain. Josh realizes all too late what he said and before he can apologize, Tyler is darting into the woods.

“Ty, I didn’t mean it, you, you aren’t a monster!” It’s too late. Tyler is gone.

Josh pushes his fingers into his eyes and grumbles loudly. He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to react. Mostly, he’s in a state of shock. He has no clue what Tyler has become or what the other creatures out there are. All he knows is that those things tried to eat him, and Tyler wasn’t dead.

 

* * *

When the sun peaks over the horizon, Tyler returns. He has more blood down his front and must have been out there feeding again.

“We have to go,” he growls, pointing towards the forest. “To the house.”

“Okay,” Josh nods, pushing himself up off the ground. “Do you know where you’re going?”

“Never forgot.”

“Yeah,” Josh whispers. He has a limp but continues to shuffle towards the mouth of the cave. “Tyler, I’m sorry. About what I said. You aren’t... y’know.”

Tyler doesn’t reply.

 

* * *

They are quiet as Tyler leads the way back to the edge of the woods. Josh limps behind him, his leg twitching every so often. He knew he had gotten bit and the thought that he might turn into... whatever Tyler was, lingered in the back of his head.

Tyler hisses when they reach his backyard, that frosted white film returning to his eyes. Josh wonders if that’s like, some kind of defense against light as the sun peeks over the roof of the house. Quickly, Josh slides off his jacket and hands it to his best friend, who looks at him, waiting for approval.

“It’s fine, dude. Seriously. If it’ll help while we cross the yard.” He pauses. “You aren’t going to like, turn into ash if the sunlight hits you, right?”

“I’m not a vampire,” Tyler grumbles as he slides Josh’s jacket over his elongated limbs. His arms are too long for the sleeves to protect him, but he keeps it on anyways, popping the hood over his long, greasy hair. Josh holds his hands up apologetically.

“Sorry. I just... don’t know what to expect, or whatever.”

Tyler blinks, his gaze on the french doors of what had once been his home. Josh thinks he might be crying, but there’s so much grime caking his face that he isn’t sure.

“I wasn’t supposed to come home,” he finally says. “That’s... what, I uhm, was trying to say.”

“It’ll be okay for a day, right? I don’t want you to get hurt, and we walked pretty far from your little hobbit hole already.”

Tyler lowers his chin to his chest and sighs. “Yeah. Okay.” He gestures with his clawed up hands, allowing Josh to lead the way as he tucks his exposed skin under his armpits.

Once inside, Josh turns all the lights off and closes the curtains, allowing it to be just dark enough that Tyler lets the film off his eyes. It’s weird, his eyes being yellow, after so many years of them being brown.

Josh looks at his unfinished dinner he left behind. “Oh, shit. Forgot about that. Are you by any chance interested in eating cooked meat?” Tyler shakes his head, already busying himself by removed Josh’s jacket. One of his claws pokes a hole right through the fabric, making Tyler’s entire body shake. Josh blows a raspberry in what he hopes is a lightful tone.

“Don’t worry about it, man. I needed to get a new jacket anyways.” It allows Tyler to relax as Josh brings his dishes to the sink and returns to the dining room. Tyler is still looking around, probably noting all the minor differences Jenna had made since his disappearance. Josh reaches out to touch his arm, which, looking back on, probably wasn’t his smartest idea, considering whatever the hell Tyler was, but his best friend only flinches and turns to look at him. He tilts his head and stares as Josh rubs his thumb over the x tattoo they had gotten together many years ago. It’s partially hidden by scabbed blood and makes him chuckle a little.

“Do you remember that?” He asks. Tyler’s skin is cold to the touch, but smooth, like he’s touching granite.

“Of course,” Tyler replies, tugging his arm away. He lowers himself down to walk on all fours and scampers down the hallway. Josh assumes he knows where the bathroom is and follows to find him staring at a picture Jenna kept of them by her bedside.

“She misses you,” Josh comments quietly. Tyler nods.

“I miss her.”

“I’m sure she’d be happy to see you, even now. I mean, if I reacted how I did, hers isn’t going to be much different, right?”

Tyler scowls but continues to journey into the master bathroom. He always had been one for baths, so the tub itself is huge and jacuzzi like, with a plethora of good smelling bath bombs Jenna bought from Lush and all kinds of shampoos and body washes. Tyler sneezes and hides his head in embarrassment.

“Did you just sneeze?” Josh asks, the corners of his mouth tilting into a small smile.

“No,” Tyler mumbles. “I was... trying to... laugh.”

“It was cute,” Josh promises as he kneels down to turn the faucet on. He runs the water hot because it’s probably been a while since Tyler has experienced anything but the cold. Josh reaches for the showerhead and tilts it downwards.

“Probably better to clean you off a bit before we start a bath, or you’ll be swimming in your own filth.”

“Okay.” Slowly and clumsily, Tyler peels the remains of his clothes off. They are the same ones he disappeared in, the ones the police found pieces of in the woods. Josh wonders if it was the other creatures that did that to him.

And look-- he  _ knows _ he really shouldn’t be looking, but he does. Tyler’s junk looks exactly the same, which makes Josh breathe a sigh of relief.

“What?” Asks Tyler as he climbs into the tub. The water mats his hair to his forehead and is already sending muddy red-brown rivers into the drain. Josh smiles, for real this time.

“It’s just... your dick, dude. I was wondering if that had changed at all.”

Tyler rolls his eyes and snorts. It sounds more like a sneeze than his laugh did.

They stay quiet as Josh cleans Tyler off. He washes his long hair with Jenna’s shampoo and conditioner, and uses what had once been Tyler’s extra-sensitive body wash for his now even extra-sensitive skin. The pale color of his skin makes his tattoos look faded, but it is nice to see them return as Josh runs a washcloth over his body. He doesn’t even want to attempt to wash the face, unsure of what is a wound and what’s simply part of his face.

Tyler is making a weird, vibrating noise that almost sounds like a purr. Josh doesn’t want to say anything, because he doesn’t want Tyler to feel embarrassed, but it’s really cute. Josh thinks that Tyler isn’t even aware he’s making that sound.

“Okay,” Josh announces, leaning back on his knees with the washcloth grasped firmly in his hand, “I think we can actually get some water in here and turn on the jets. I’ll probably have to get in with you, though. To clean your face up.”

At the mention of his face, Tyler raises a hand to touch it. All of a sudden, there’s a weird, slurping sound as Tyler’s claws retract into his knuckles all Wolverine style. His fingernails are still long and filthy, but at least he can avoid tearing holes in anything.

He smiles a real, honest-to-God smile that makes Josh’s heart leap. It’s the first one he’s seen since Tyler saved his life.

“I guess that’s new?”

“Yeah,” Tyler nods. He leans over to plug the drain as Josh turns off the showerhead to fill the tub with water instead. As it fills, Josh takes his clothes off, leaving his boxers on before he moves to sit on the edge of the tub. His leg is covered in dried blood and there are bruises where the creature sank its fangs into it.

“Am I gonna turn?” Josh asks jokingly. Tyler narrows his eyes at him.

“Doesn’t work like that.”

“Right. Sorry.” He settles himself over the lip of the tub and gestures for Tyler to turn off the facet as he drops a bath bomb that reminds him of a unicorn into the water. It fizzles as it turns the water pink and blue, like cotton candy. “I don’t mean to be rude. I just... I keep saying all the wrong things. And I don’t want to make you upset, or nervous, or force you to talk if you aren’t comfortable. I don’t know what’s going on. I thought you were dead, Ty. We all thought you were dead.”

Tyler doesn’t reply, which isn’t surprising. Josh assumes he’s thinking, probably trying to remember the words he wants to say. He rests a bony hand against the surface of the water.

“I... tried. So hard. To keep my hum-m-manity,” he stutters, clears his throat, “but the beast consumed me.”

“You can take your time. I’m not going anywhere. My only concern is you.”

Tyler’s gaze returns to the water. “I got... so hungry. And when they brought me f-food, I didn’t... hesitate. I didn’t hesitate and I  _ knew.” _

Josh frowns. “Who’s they? And what do you mean, you knew?”

He shakes his head. “People go missing. And they... they fed me...” Tyler doesn’t finish his sentence, but Josh can connect the dots. The thought alone makes him gag, but he knows he needs to make it clear. He needs to say it.

“They made you eat human flesh?”

Tyler bows his head in shame. “They starved me. I was so hungry.”

Josh ducks his head as well. His stomach is churning. “You ate people and then... that happened? To you?”

He doesn’t look up, his hands gently splashing the water. “They are Wendigos. I guess... I’m one of them now too.”

“But you aren’t... like the others. You still have humanity in you. I mean, you can talk. And your face isn’t... completely... Wendigo’d.”

That gets Tyler to scoff. “I’m still a monster. I may not eat humans, but you saw how I tore that... thing, apart. I need raw meat to survive. And I... I want to  _ kill _ everything that moves. I even... wanted to kill you, at first.” He turns away, causing the hair on Josh’s arms to rise, despite being in the tub. He knows Tyler wouldn’t truly hurt him, but just the words alone are enough to make him doubt it just a little bit.

“Why did you leave, Tyler? I found the note you left, in the Trench files. If I would have looked earlier... Maybe I could have... could have saved you.”

“No. You couldn’t save me. I... I knew what was going to happen to me. From the beginning.”

Josh’s face softens. “You did?”

“The others have been there for a long time. They’ve come down from the lakes and I...” A pause. “They seem like monsters, and maybe they are, but they’re smart. So we made a deal. I sacrificed myself so they would stay in the woods and not come any further down. They aren’t allowed to cross over the edge.” His speech is starting to sound more tangible. Despite the blood still caked on his face and in his teeth, Tyler’s presence  _ feels  _ more human. If Josh pretends hard enough, it’s almost like nothing changed. 

“They kept me locked up, wanted me to be like them. Punishment, I guess. They already made me give up my life, leave my home, abandon the people I love. I didn’t want to do it, but I... I was so hungry, Josh. My body just... snapped. Seeing you... I snapped again, but... it went the opposite way. You turned the human in me back on.”

“You sacrificed yourself. For everyone else. Tyler... you shouldn’t have done that.”

“I had to. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

_ But why did it have to be you? _

With a huff, Josh reaches for the washcloth and begins to gently wipe the blood off Tyler’s face. Despite the fact that the right side is made of  jagged teeth, he still knows it’s Tyler. Deep down, it’s always going to be Tyler.

He grimaces as Josh runs the cloth over the rents in his skin and begins to dab at the blood encrusted around his black eye.

“A lot of people miss you.”

“I thought you would have finished up the record by now.”

“I couldn’t just... put it out. And it hurt to even hear your voice.”

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, “I wanted to tell you... tell Jenna. But... I knew you’d stop me. And I couldn’t let that happen.”

Josh sets the washcloth on the lip of the tub so he can cup Tyler’s cheek. He gently rubs his thumb over the teeth that have broken through skin lightly, causing Tyler to start making that weird, vibrating sound again.

“You’re purring,” Josh smiles. He swears Tyler is blushing, even if his crazy teeth take up most of the room.

“Yeah. That... happens sometimes.”

“God. I... I really missed you, Tyler. It’s been so hard being without you. And your family... they blame me. You shoulda seen how awkward the funeral was.”

That catches Tyler’s attention; when he tries to pull his face away, Josh’s grip tightens and he pulls himself closer. Tyler was definitely much taller than he had been, and so damn skinny, but Josh was the one folding himself inward.

“You guys had a funeral for me?”

“The police found all the blood. And pieces of your torn clothes. It wasn’t a pretty sight, so I guess everyone just kinda... assumed.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

Josh smiles, to let Tyler know it’s okay and moves his hand to push wet hair off his forehead. “I’ll give you a haircut after this. I know how much you hate having your hair long.”

“I think they were expecting it to all fall out, eventually, but after that first time, of eating... I refused to touch another piece of human meat. And the transformation just kinda... stopped. Got stuck. And here I am.”

“I assume the others won’t let you just waltz off, huh? Even though you could. And we could fix you right up. Get you into therapy, plastic surgery, fix your teeth-- all of it. Things could be normal again.”

Tyler sighs. “No. Can’t do that. Once a Wendigo is born... it has to stay. We’re cursed.”

“So no more touring, then.”

“I haven’t thought about the band in so long, Josh. All I can think about is how I’m a monster.”

“You aren’t a monster.”

“You’re the one that said it first.”

It feels like he’s been stabbed in the heart with a sharp knife. “I didn’t mean it. I didn’t know what was happening. And I... I know now. But it doesn’t matter. I don’t love you any less than before because you... look like this.”

“And yet you were so eager to fix me.” He smiles and reaches a hand out to feel Josh’s thigh. His fingernails are rough, but it’s better than having claws go through him.

“Just having you here, right now, is enough. Even if I only get you for a few hours... it’s enough.” Josh was never one to make the best decisions, and often reacted on impulse and spontaneity. It had never been something Tyler particularly agreed with or enjoyed, up until he started getting involved in Josh’s rash decisions. And, simply because Tyler was involved with this decision, Josh thought he wouldn’t mind.

The kiss is strange, since only half of Tyler’s lips are normal, but it isn’t bad. Tyler doesn’t seem to mind either. In fact, he’s kissing back, sliding his hands to Josh’s waist and bending his long limbs so he can climb in Josh’s lap. Josh isn’t going to lie-- he can taste raw meat on Tyler’s breath, and it’s really disgusting, but the familiar feeling of Tyler, actual, real life,  _ Tyler, _ against his lips is putting him in a state of pure euphoria. He gets a headrush. 

And then, Tyler starts crying. Starts hiccuping. And his claws come out.

“Fuck!” Josh shouts, jolting away from Tyler’s hands. He looks down at the puncture wounds turning their bathwater red.

“I’m sorry,” Tyler sobs as he scrambles out of the tub, splashing water everywhere. He continues to repeat apologies over and over again as he darts down the hall and burst through the backdoors. Josh chases after him, calling his name, begging him to come back, but Tyler doesn’t listen.

“Tyler, WAIT!” Josh tries one last time, drops of blood and water dripping to the floor. He knows how ridiculous he looks soaking wet standing in his boxers, but Josh doesn’t care. All he wants is for his friend to come back. “Tyler, please come back!”

But it’s too late.

Tyler is gone.


	2. Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so like, I know I said there was only going to be two parts but then I got this idea and decided that there really needs to be a part three to wrap up everything nicely. So here's part 2, and part 3 next week. I literally have nothing else to do but write while I'm spending my last week in Australia so hopefully I can crank out some stuff for you guys to read.
> 
> Thanks for reading, btw. Really boosts my confidence, lol.

He feels sick to his stomach, but hey: nothing new, right?

Josh doesn’t go running after Tyler, as much as he wants to. He knows how idiotic that decision would be, and would certainly result in him getting killed. Tyler was a predator now-- stronger, faster, even savage at times. It wasn’t his fault, that he ended up like this, that he got so hungry he caved and committed cannibalism, but it was still... really fucked up. Josh couldn’t even fully find himself digesting the information.

The shitty thing was that he didn’t even have his phone to call Jenna and tell her that after all this time, Tyler was  _ alive. _ He was kind of a dumb messy creature, but, to be fair, Tyler had been like that when he was human, too.

So Josh tends to his wounds, applying antiseptic to the bite on his leg and the claw marks on his waist. He’s neither angry nor upset with Tyler for what happened to him because Josh understands that Tyler doesn’t really know how to control the Wendigo part of himself. He’s spent the past two years fighting-- figuratively and physically-- against the beast inside of him.

All he can think about is the sacrifice Tyler made so others wouldn’t be hurt. Why did it have to be him? Out of everyone in the world, why did it have to be fucking  _ Tyler _ that got involved with cannibalistic monsters?

It wasn’t fair, and now his best friend was stuck halfway through a Wendigo transformation. Tyler couldn’t leave the woods. The house was close enough, but anywhere else?

What were they going to do?

He finds himself sobbing before he’s even realized the familiar burn in his throat. His best friend ate people. Well, not really, but he had, in the past. Tyler had consumed  _ human fucking flesh. _

What on earth was Josh supposed to do with this information? Who was he supposed to tell? Could things be fixed? Mended? 

Was there even anything to fix?

Josh missed Tyler so much. He knew he wasn’t alone, that he knew he had Jenna, but Tyler?

He  _ needed _ Tyler back in his life.

Josh spends the rest of the day in town. He gets himself a new phone, checks Twitter, replies back to some text messages, and tries to forget that his best friend was wandering around the woods killing things.

Of course, checking Twitter probably wasn’t his smartest idea either. It wasn’t who he followed that bothered him, but the tweets people mentioned him in. Everyone always wanted to talk about Tyler. Did they not understand how much he  _ did not _ want to talk about Tyler? It was like they wanted to piss him off, or something.

Sometimes he thought about deleting Twitter from his phone again, but there was always something that brought him back. Maybe Josh enjoyed torturing himself with tweets mentioning Tyler’s name. Maybe he was just sick and twisted like that.

Later that evening, after Josh has dined on reheated pork chops and downed three glasses of wine, he sits on the sofa, staring at the dark screen of the television. He can’t be bothered to put something on, knowing his wild west of a mind wouldn’t let him pay attention. Out of white noise and silence, Josh preferred the latter.

And so he sits. Thinks about calling Jenna. Sits some more.

Josh fears he is a coward. Should he have followed Tyler? Would it have done any good?

He hopes Tyler returned to the cave. He hopes the crisp, fall air won’t bother him too much, considering he’s running around out there butt-spankin’-naked.

Most of all, Josh hopes Tyler isn’t getting himself into trouble by wrestling around with the other creatures out there.

The clock ticks with every passing second. It’s starting to lull him to sleep, at only eleven at night, and he’s finding it hard to keep his eyelids open.

Until, of course, there’s a loud bang at the back door, and Josh’s lungs almost fall out of his throat. Tyler claws at the glass, a large gash across his chest, begging for entry. Behind him are the other Wendigos screeching from the edge of the woods. Josh is surprised to see them keeping their end of the bargain as he lets Tyler into the house and locks the doors.

The first thing he does is hiss at the light. Josh flicks the kitchen lights off, plunging the room into semi-darkness. Although he can see with the light from the living room, Tyler still flicks that frosted white film over his eyes and thumps against the wall.

“Jesus, dude. What did you do?” Josh crouches down next to him, grimacing as the elastic pajama bottoms press taut into the sides of the claw marks.

Tyler’s mouth is rimmed with blood. Josh assumes he was eating, which, if he’s being honest, doesn’t sit well in his stomach. He watches as Tyler attempts to stand up and falls back down with a loud, animalistic growl.

Josh leans back, causing Tyler’s face to soften.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, barely coherent. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. Lemme just get you cleaned up, dressed, ready for bed.”

He grunts, raising a clawed hand to his forehead. “They-- hurt.”

Tyler is still in beast mode, Josh concludes, and unable to fully communicate. He helps the injured boy up, slings an arm around his shoulders, and brings him to the master bathroom. Tyler sits on the closed toilet lid as Josh pulls out the first-aid kit he used earlier on his own wounds.

“Man, I kept saying to myself, ‘As long as Tyler doesn’t do anything stupid, it’ll be okay.’ And what did you do? The one fucking thing I didn’t want you to.”

“They got mad,” he mumbles, watching Josh clean his wounds out with Isopropyl in the dimly lit bathroom. Josh is thankful for the dimming light switches installed throughout the house. It makes the whole “living with a halfbred Wendigo” thing a lot easier. 

“The others?” Josh clarifies.

“Yeah. That I came back. Wasn’t supposed to.”

“So then... why did you come back again?” He sets the cloth to the side and begins to wrap bandages around Tyler’s chest. He can feel the vibrations in Tyler’s throat when his fingers press lightly against his pale skin.

“I... needed you. I knew when I saw you that I wouldn’t be able to just... go back to how things were. They attacked me.”

“But they didn’t cross the edge.”

“No. They know I’m stuck. I go any further and... I’m dead.”

“The Wendigo curse,” Josh confirms.

“The Wendigo curse.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing you never liked leaving your house anyway, huh?” He hopes his smile is comforting enough and feels himself relax when Tyler smiles back.

“Thank you. For being so cool about all of this. I know seeing your best friend covered in blood isn’t exactly the most fun.”

“You’re still you,” Josh replies, pulling his hands away. He picks the cloth back up to wipe the blood off Tyler’s mouth. “No matter who you eat or what you look like.”

“Who I eat, huh? Not funny.”

“At least you’ve got enough humanity in there to recognize my shitty jokes.” His hand stops long enough for Tyler to place his own over the top after his claws have retracted. Josh looks up to meet his gaze.

“The eye thing is cool. Is that like, so you can see better?”

“I think so. You were right. We don’t do well in light.”

“Good thing the darkness never bothered me anyway,” Josh sings off-key to the tune of  _ Frozen’s  _ Let it Go. Tyler chuckles a little as Josh rises to his feet and offers a hand. “Let’s get you some clothes. I’m sure having your dick out in the wilderness probably isn’t like, the best idea.”

“Check out Bear Grylls over here.”

“Who’s making shitty jokes now?” Tyler laughs again, and it feels normal. It makes these past two years seem like nothing more than one big nightmare.

Tyler sits on the bed as Josh pulls open the dresser drawers and throws him some clothes. He makes sure that the t-shirt he gives was once his and figures it’ll make Tyler feel better. Sure enough, he notices.

“This one was yours,” Tyler says, pressing his thumb down against the fabric. “I... didn’t think I’d be able to remember that.”

“Then I am thoroughly impressed.” Josh shuts the drawers and turns around to lean his back against the edge of the dresser. “It seems like the longer you stay in here, the less of a... y’know, you become.”

“You can say monster, Josh. Or even beast. Trust me, I’m fully aware.” With a sad shake of his head, Tyler pulls the shirt over his skinny, fragile frame and does the same with the boxers. With how much weight he’s lost, Josh’s shirt looks like a double-XL dress on him.

“But that isn’t... that’s not... you.”

“Maybe not. I don’t know. Kinda feels like it.”

With a sigh, Josh moves to peel back the covers so Tyler can get underneath. His yellow eyes stare up at him with worry. Tyler must know just as much as Josh how unstable he is. And maybe sleeping with a cannibalistic animal isn’t exactly a great idea, but it’s Tyler, so Josh is willing to risk it.

“Did you ever get to eat, if you were out there fighting those assholes?”

He scoffs. “No.”

“I have some meat in the freezer. I mean, it’s not fresh, but...”

Tyler smiles. “That would be awesome. Thanks.”

With a nod of his head, Josh leaves the room to pull the frozen steaks out and plops them down on a plate. And then, just because he’s a nice best friend like that, nukes them in the microwave so they have more of a “freshly raw” flavor instead of a “shoved up an icicle’s asshole” taste.

Tyler is laying down like a cat when Josh comes back in his food. He pauses, staring at his best friend with his long limbs tucked underneath each other, and starts laughing. Tyler cracks open an eyelid and sits up.

“What?”

“I just... wasn’t expecting that, is all. Here’s your food, bro.” He sets the plate down by Tyler’s bedside before walking back into the bathroom to get himself ready for bed. “Dude, I’m gonna have to buy you a toothbrush, because, no offense, but your breath fucking reeks.”

“Not a fan of raw meat, huh?” Teases Tyler as he balances the plate in his lap to sink his jagged teeth into the streak. Josh tries to ignore the awful sounds coming from the bedroom.

“I prefer my meat to be slightly pink in the center, thanks.” Although, after this, Josh wasn’t sure he’d be able to touch any meat products for quite some time.

He brushes his teeth while Tyler finishes up his dinner and comes around to the other side of the bed. Josh pauses to look at the picture Jenna has of her and Tyler together from their wedding night on her bedside table. He can feel Tyler’s eyes on him.

“How is she?” He asks, bringing his knees to his chest. Josh nods as he climbs up into bed and pulls the comforter over his legs. Tyler seems like he won’t lash out or hurt anyone, but Josh is still being cautious and keeping his distance. Then, of course, Tyler has to go and settle down on his lap like a fucking kitty and completely change his mind. Josh rakes his fingers through Tyler’s long hair as the weird purring noise returns. He finds himself smiling.

“She’s as good as she can be. We’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

“Good. You’re taking care of her?”

“Of course I am, dude. She’s family.”

“Yeah. Right.” Tyler lets out a loud yawn, flashing his several rows of sharp teeth. Josh presses his lips together and pretends he didn’t see that. “Have you guys, like... done... anything?”

Josh can hear his blood pounding in his ears. “You mean like, how we used to do things?”

“I won’t be mad, Josh. I just... I gotta know. Gotta know to what extent you’ve been taking care of her.”

“We’ve kissed,” he admits softly. Tyler’s purring stops.

“And?”

“We... you know.”

“Say it,” Tyler barks at him with just a hint of a threat. Josh swallows nervously.

“We slept together.”

With a nod, Tyler moves to the other side of the bed and turns to face the wall. Josh notes the way he curls his body in on himself. 

“Ty, come on, man. I didn’t do it to spite you. We were both mourning, thinking of you, because it was the fucking anniversary of your disappearance and we were having a rough time.”

“I’m not mad,” he says. “It would be wrong of me to be mad, considering that you and I fucked all the time. It just...”

“What? If you aren’t mad, then what?”

Tyler rolls back over. “It hurts that I wasn’t around to take care of her. That I failed her.” He pauses. “Failed you.”

“Tyler,” Josh murmurs, reaching out for his shoulder. Tyler allows Josh to pull him back into his lap. His fingers return to Tyler’s hair and the purring starts back up again. “We never for one second thought you failed us.”

“What did you think, then? Suicide?”

“Sometimes. Especially when I found that note.”

“You never listened to the album all the way through, did you?”

“Trench?”

“Yeah.” Tyler sniffs and presses the fanged side of his face to Josh’s thigh. “I knew this was coming when I told you about my ideas. About Dema.”

Josh remembers how crazy he thought Tyler was after hearing all of that. “So... Dema... the woods?”

“Yep.”

“The Bishops.”

“You know what they are. And they stole me from my home and made me become one of them.”

“So then... me, as the Bandito leader. That... you wanted me to find you.”

“I left that note for a reason. I just didn’t think... it would be this early.”

“You thought I wouldn’t go into the woods to find you as soon as I read that?”

“I don’t know what I thought, dude. I don’t. I’ve been so scared. And when I finally saw you, and felt the animal in me say ‘eat him,’ my fear only increased. For a second... I thought I would actually eat you.”

“Well,” Josh clears his throat, “I’m glad you didn’t eat me, bro.”

“I’m glad I didn’t eat you either.”

 

* * *

The next morning Josh awakes to Tyler’s purring. He presses his palm to Tyler’s forehead, who is still curled comfortably like a house cat in Josh’s lap. 

Everything about this situation was incredibly weird and fucked up, yet Josh was okay with it. As long as Tyler was here in his arms and safe, Josh was okay with whatever came next.

He wondered if Tyler would speak with Jenna. If it was something Tyler could bring himself to do. After what he said about feeling like he failed them, Josh knew he had to prove to Tyler that it simply wasn’t true.

Tyler stirs on top of Josh, slightly raising his head to crack an eyelid open. He still has that film over his eyes, since some of the sunlight is creeping in past the curtains. “Hey.”

“Good morning, sleepyhead. Good to see you awake.”

“Weird to be awake. Usually sleep during the day.” He stifles a yawn and extends his limbs to stretch. Josh takes that as a chance for him to slip out of bed for a piss.

“Yeah, well, maybe you won’t be nocturnal for much longer,” Josh offers optimistically as he wraps a hand around his dick. Tyler’s sudden thumping causes Josh to jump and spray urine all over the toilet seat. “Jesus fuck, dude.”

“I can’t stay, Josh. You know that.”

He tucks his dick back into the waistband of his pajamas and turns around, donning a frown. “Why not? You’re safe here. You know Jenna isn’t gonna care--”

“No!” Tyler shouts, shrinking back onto all fours. He hisses, extending his claws, causing Josh to stumble backward in caution and maybe even a little bit of fear.

“Why not? Why could you possibly not stay here?”

“She can’t see me like this. No. I won’t let her.”

“She  _ loves you, _ Tyler. What is so hard to understand about that?”

With a shaky breath, Tyler drops to the tiled floor and curls in on himself. Josh sees tears beginning to fall and makes his way over to kneel down next to his best friend.

“Ty,” he repeats firmly, “all I want to do is help. I know you made some deal with those things out there, but you don’t need to isolate yourself from us. We love you, no matter what. What I said yesterday hasn’t changed, understand?”

“I’m not the man she married.” Tyler shakes his head back and forth until Josh thinks his head might fall off his shoulders. “I’m not even a fucking human being, anymore. I’m a monster.”

“You haven’t hurt me. And I know you would never hurt Jenna.”

“But I could. And I know you’re scared.”

“Nah. You’re nothing but a big, hairless kitty. Harmless unless I give you a reason to bring out the claws.”

A snort. “You’re just saying that.”

“You purr,” Josh ticks off on his fingers, “sleep with your limbs all bent inwards, fucking hiss and shit--”

“Okay, okay.”

“We can start slow. I won’t tell Jenna you’re here until you feel ready to let her know. I want to help, Tyler. Let me help you.”

He’s quiet, nonverbal, a glint still in his eyes. Josh leans back to give him space and time to answer.

“I’ll have to talk to the others.”

“Can you have tangible conversations with those things?”

“Not in English,” he mumbles. “Wash the piss off your hands and we might be able to talk more about it.”

Josh chuckles. “Yeah, okay. I’ll make breakfast. Do you like chicken?”

Tyler smiles. “Yeah, that should work.”

 

* * *

Josh nukes the chicken in the microwave for him again and settles on cereal for himself. He can feel Tyler watching him as he sits down to pour Reese’s Puffs into his bowl.

“Forgot about that,” Tyler says, blinking, before taking the chicken breast in his hands. The way he tears into it with his teeth reminds Josh to really not fucking piss him off.

“About Reese’s Puffs? You ate them all the time. Sometimes I thought you’d knock me out just to get the last bowl.”

Too busy stuffing his mouth with raw meat, Tyler doesn’t reply. He’s running on animal instinct, the “eat-sleep-stay alive” method that Josh has seen in many predators. So, Josh stays silent, eating his cereal, until that glint in Tyler’s eyes disappears.

Then, because he’s a smartass, he says, “I could’ve gotten you some silverware, dude.”

“I don’t think I’d be able to hold it very well.”

“Yeah, well, maybe after we cut your damn fingernails. You aren’t doing your bass any justice, that’s for sure.” Tyler looks down, causing Josh to fear he said the wrong thing. He kept wanting to bring up the past but hadn’t asked if that was even something he could do without making Tyler feel like shit.

“I’m sorry.” A pause. “I guess it’s like, a defense mechanism for me to keep bringing up how things were. I don’t mean to make you feel bad about it.”

“No. It’s just... been a while.”

“Right. I won’t... I don’t need to bring anything else up.”

“I never wanted anyone to mourn for me. I never wanted to make people upset, or afraid, or even depressed.” His eyes flicker up to Josh’s, insinuating that he thinks Josh might be depressed. Josh says nothing. “I thought I was helping. And after a while, hunger was all I thought about. I forgot who I was and who I had been. It was just me, the woods, and the food.”

“You could tell us to mourn anyone else but you and we would always pick you. Tyler, you had such an impact on the people in your life. Fuck, even the people  _ not _ in your life. Do you know how many young kids out there relied on your words to keep them going? And then you fucking disappeared. Everyone thought you were dead. I deleted every fucking social media platform I had because I couldn’t handle the memories. I didn’t even want to think about you. I couldn’t listen to your voice or look at a picture of you without having a mental breakdown.” He sighs. “I know you think you did the right thing to protect everyone, and maybe you did. I don’t know. But we did mourn. Everyone mourned. And now that you’re back, it’s like... the past two years were a bad dream. You’re here, with me, right now. That’s all I ever fucking wanted.”

Tyler sinks a hand into his hair as he leans his elbow against the table. “I didn’t want to leave. I just knew I had to. If I didn’t... everyone I loved was going to die.”

“Is that the reason you spent so much time in there?”

“There’s so much we don’t understand, Josh. I didn’t know they were in there until I found their nest. They kidnap people and string their bodies up so they can peel the skin off and eat it. I remember being so scared, thinking I was going to die. Their leader made me a deal. If they let me go, I had to return, or they would find me, and kill everyone close to me.”

“Why did they not just eat you, though? Why starve you and put you through this process?”

“They needed more for their group. There had been nine of them, but some disappeared. Others died. And now they’re down to four. Five, if you count me.” He’s starting to tear up and sniffs loudly. “They threw me a severed arm that had a tattoo of a drum on it. I thought of you, and I tried so damn hard--” One tear slides off the bridge of his nose, “but I wasn’t strong enough. I don’t even know who that person was, Josh. If they had a family that missed them or a partner. What I do know is that I ate, and ate, and ate until I couldn’t anymore and I forgot my own name. I became one of them. I turned into a monster.”

“You didn’t stay with them, though.”

“No. I left. And they hated me for it, but I kept my end of the deal, and they kept theirs.”

“They said you had to return to the woods. You did. So if you come back here every once and a while, what’s the big deal? You’re still returning to hunt.”

“Maybe. I’m just scared I’ll slip up. Hurt you. Hurt Jenna. Or hurt someone in the neighborhood. It’s like I’m a shark or something. I smell blood and I just snap. Yesterday, when I hurt you in the tub, I thought I was going to kill you. That’s why I ran.” Tyler shakes his head. “The human part of me knows you’re my friend, but the monster part says your food. And it’s  _ so fucking hard _ to remember which is which sometimes.”

“It’s okay,” Josh tells him, extending his hand to touch the top of Tyler’s. Fortunately for him, Tyler doesn’t pull away. “I’m not going to leave or give up on you. I mean that, because I knew if something like that happened to me, you’d do the same thing.”

“Yeah. Of course.” He is quiet.

“Alright. Lemme get some coffee and then I’ll get out the nail clippers. You are due for a serious manicure, bro.” As Josh goes to stand up, Tyler grabs his wrist-- and for the first time since Josh realized Tyler was still alive, he does not flinch.

“Thank you.”

 

* * *

His mug of coffee sits on the bathroom counter as he trims Tyler’s fingernails and uses a warm washcloth to get the mud out from underneath. Tyler is patient and watches without making any noise. It’s weird though, because Josh feels like he can feel the vibrations moving through Tyler’s body, yet no sound is coming out.

Josh leans back to scoff, prompting Tyler to frown. 

“What?”

“You’re trying to stop yourself from purring, aren’t you?”

“No!” Tyler becomes flustered, shaking his long hair into his face. “I’m not doing anything!”

“I can feel your body vibrating, dude. You’re definitely loving this.” Josh takes Tyler’s pinkie finger to trim off the last nail before tossing the clippings into the garbage. “There. All done.”

“I wasn’t purring,” he pouts.

“Sure you weren’t. I’ll cut your hair for you now. Jenna’s got the clippers under the sink. Have a preference?” Josh moves to open the doors underneath the sink and pull out the hair clipping tools out. Tyler huffs behind him.

“Please shave it. Seriously. It’s been... way too long.”

“Yeah, not sure if the whole Jesus look is your thing.” He chuckles at his own joke as Tyler pushes the hair off his forehead, watching curiously as Josh plugs in the clippers.

“I’d always shave for release. For a fresh start.”

“I’d say this is a fresh start.” The clippers roar to life. “You ready?”

“Yeah.” Josh moves them in a straight line from front to back, letting clumps of hair fall into Tyler’s lap. The more Josh shaves, the more “Tyler” he becomes. It’s filling Josh’s heart with euphoria, making him feel like things were normal again. He had shaved Tyler’s hair before. This was nothing new.

“You shaved your hair too,” Tyler adds after a couple minutes of buzzing. “Why?”

Josh shrugs lamely as he trims up the back of Tyler’s head. “Guess I needed a fresh start of my own.”

Tyler only nods.

 

* * *

The rest of the day is lazy. Josh pulls out the family albums so Tyler can look at pictures. With his fingernails trimmed, he’s able to turn the pages much easier and keeps to himself. Josh doesn’t speak either, afraid of breaking the silence, so they stay quiet while Tyler looks and reminds himself that once upon a time, he had been normal.

Josh knows why it hurts when Tyler closes the scrapbook and pushes it away with his foot. He kicks a little too hard, sending the album smack into the wall on the other side of the room. Josh is hurting because Tyler is hurting, and Tyler is hurting at the thought of what he’s lost.

“Your family misses you,” he whispers even though it’s a bad idea to bring them up, “I bet they would love to see you too. Jay especially.” Tyler doesn’t speak, so Josh keeps rambling, even though it’s dumb. Even though it’s really, really stupid. “And your Mom, jeez. No parent wants to bury their kid. I doubt they’d even care that you...” He trails off, knowing the Wendigo part of Tyler’s face isn’t the most comfortable subject to talk about. “They wouldn’t care. They’d just wanna see you again.”

“Dude, could you  _ please _ just shut up about that?” Tyler growls finally. Josh blinks and raises his hands in defense.

“Sorry. I can talk about something else if you’d like.”

“Go for it. Anything but that.” Tyler gestures to the scrapbook with a hand before pulling his knees to his chest and turning to look at the walls. The lights are dimmed, so shadows are covering most of the photographs hanging up, but it isn’t a problem for Tyler, not with his super night vision, and probably isn’t helping his mood.

“If you said it was a spirit possessing you to eat... people, what if I got you an exorcism? If the spirit is gone... maybe you could eat like, normal food again.”

Tyler scoffs. “I can eat whatever I fucking feel like it, Josh. It’s just the meat is what sustains me. You can eat paper and grass but that’s not gonna do much, is it?”

“I’m only trying to help.”

“By trying to fix me?” Tyler whips his head around to glare, his yellow eyes baring holes into Josh’s neck. Five seconds later, his expression softens. “Sorry. I know you’re trying to help and I appreciate it. I’m just... trying to get used to things still.”

“We could go down to the studio if you’d like.”

Tyler’s short attention span remains focused on him. “That... it’s still down there?”

“Nothing’s changed. I even cleaned it the other day.”

It looks like he’s contemplating it, but ultimately, it’s fear that wins. “No. Not today. Not ready for that.”

Josh clasps his hands together. “Fair enough. Anything you wanna do?”

“Take a nap, honestly.” His eyes flicker towards the back door where sunlight streams in from behind the curtains. “Like I said. Not really used to being awake.”

“I could go for a nap as well,” is Josh’s reply as he stands up to lead the way to the bedroom. He’s swiftly cut off by his ringing phone and mumbles “shit” under his breath before answering. Tyler, perched on all fours, tilts his head.

“Hi Jen,” Josh says, causing Tyler to slowly slink against the wall. He stays silent, unmoving, not even daring to breathe.

Jenna is frantic. “Way to answer my texts, dude! I’ve been trying to get a hang of you for like the past two days!”

“Er, sorry. I dropped my phone in the toilet and it took me a while to get up out of the house and... get another one.” Josh feels bad lying, but he’s looking at Tyler’s scared eyes just begging him not to tell. “I totally forgot to call you back. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s just... it’s good to hear your voice. I think I was beginning to think something bad happened to you, too.” She chuckles nervously, causing Josh to sigh.

“Sorry. I’ve been preoccupied lately.”

“What on Earth have you been doing?”

“Spending time with Tyler. Er— in Tyler’s studio.” He casts his eyes to the ground and turns around when Tyler glares at him. “Kinda feels like he’s around, is all.”

“You’re eating though, right? Sleeping? Showering?”

“Yes, of course. Getting your mail, too. Even keeping the house clean.”

“Good. You know you’re more than welcome to move in when I get back home, right? I always wanted to properly extend that invitation to you. I know how much you hate your apartment.”

“I’d like that,” he says softly, fully aware Tyler can probably hear both sides of the conversation. “Yeah, it’s a pretty shitty apartment.”

Jenna laughs, causing Josh’s heart to swell. She always had a delightful laugh. “I think that I might not need to stay as long as I thought. I’ve been thinking about you a lot, Josh.”

“I’ve been thinking about you too,” he admits.  _ But not as much as I’ve been thinking of Tyler. _

“That’s... really good to hear. I gotta go, but please call me back tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“Promise?”

He smiles. “Yeah. I promise.”

When Josh turns back to face Tyler, he’s gone. With a frown, Josh heads down the hallway and into the bedroom to find him curled in a ball on the bed, sobbing hysterically. Josh makes his way next to him and pulls Tyler into his lap with comforting shushes. He runs his knuckles along the back of Tyler’s neck and up to the scalp of his head. 

“It’s okay,” Josh whispers, hoping he’s convincing enough, “it’s okay.”

And soon, after Tyler’s calmed down, the purring starts back up again, and Josh feels like he might have succeeded. 

“Just the sound of her voice,” Tyler murmurs over the vibrations in his throat, “God, her fucking  _ voice,  _ Josh.”

“I know,” and he does. He does know. 

“I should have never come back.”

Josh tenses up. “How could you say that?”

“You guys were happy. She loves you. I heard what she said. She wants to start a life with you. I ruined things coming back here.”

“Fucking  _ bullshit,” _ Josh hisses, anger boiling inside of him. Tyler sits up, his eyes wide, and begins to slink away to the bottom of the bed. Josh stops him before he can get too far. “We moved on because we fucking  _ had to,  _ Tyler. Not because we wanted to. You being back made things a hundred fucking times better. So don’t even  _ dare _ say that. If you think even for one  _ second _ that I would let you hide back in those woods, then you’re a bigger idiot than I previously thought.”

Tyler is quiet. “They’d eat you.”

“I think it’s more likely they’d add me to that pretty little collection of theirs. If it’s true there used to be nine of them, and there’s only four excluding you, then yeah.” Josh shrugs. “They’d starve me out.”

“You’re an idiot,” Tyler spits.

“If loving you makes me an idiot, then I guess I’ve been one for a long ass time, pal.”

They stare daggers into each other, both too stubborn to change their position on the argument. Tyler speaks first.

“You seriously would take the risk of becoming Wendigo dinner to come find me?”

“Is that really hard to believe, considering I’m an idiot?” There’s a hint of a smile on Josh’s face that Tyler scoffs at. “I’m trying to make you a proposition here, dude. You could have your own space down in the basement, hunt for food at night. That at least gives you shelter, warmth, the ability to get clean. Just because you sacrificed yourself doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your humanity-- or your friends and family.”

Tyler looks away, and for a second, it looks like he might be okay with it. Then, of course, his mind falls right back into the same old habits. “Jenna.”

“Would not  _ care, _ dude. How many times do I gotta say that to you? She’s gonna be happy to see you. Trust me on that.”

“I want to,” he whispers, tears filling his eyes. “But--”

“But  _ what, _ Tyler? What is stopping you? Why is it so hard for you to understand that you deserve love too?”

Tyler’s eyes flicker to meet Josh’s. He blinks, quickly putting on and peeling away the frosted film from his honey mustard eyes before sighing. “Yeah, okay. I mean, they can’t do much anyway, can they? I’m just as strong at this point. Could tear their heads off and their hearts out.”

“Uh...” Josh wets his lips, “but you aren’t... like, gonna do that, are you?”

“Could do that to you too,” Tyler adds. Josh swears it’s almost like Tyler is trying to get his best friend to hate him.

“If tearing my head off is what makes you happy, then go for it, bro. I love you and only want you to have to best.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Josh challenges him, sitting up straighter. He allows his back to thump against the headboard. “I’m not doing anything. You’re the strong one here, aren’t you? I mean, it used to be me, but my muscles can’t possibly match your supernatural strength.”

“Don’t,” Tyler growls.

“But I am, so what are you gonna do about it, Tyler? Gonna claw my eyes out? Gonna shut me up by pulling my tongue out? Gonna eat me?”

“I could,” he shoots back.

“But you won’t.”

“You’re just dying to get fucked, aren’t you?” Tyler has fury in his eyes, but Josh can also see arousal, which was exactly what he was going for. A smirk rises to his lips as Tyler leaps across the bed and straight into his lap. “You’d be the first person to die in a horror movie.”

“That’s because I’m sexually attracted to the villains.”

“Are you calling me a villain?”

“I never said that was a bad thing. Often times, the villains are the ones we most relate to.” Josh leans forward to meet Tyler’s lips halfway and pulls him closer, gripping his waist with desperate fingers. Tyler moans a little as he tucks his long arms around Josh’s backside. Josh can feel Tyler’s wet fangs pressed against his cheek and gasps a little when they move to the underside of his jaw.

“Fuck,” he breathes when he feels Tyler starting to purr against him. Hearing validation that Tyler was enjoying whatever was going on was something Josh never knew he needed in their relationship until now. He tilts his chin up, accentuating his Adam’s Apple for Tyler to kiss as he pleased. Even though his kisses were one-half teeth, it was still pretty hot.

“I brushed my teeth for you,” Tyler whispers. “Used your toothbrush.”

“Dude, that’s gross. I’m throwing that away.”

“Fair enough.” Tyler pulls his mouth away to give Josh a look. “I can floss for you, too.”

“You don’t smell like death anymore. That’s always an added plus.” Josh smiles as he pulls Tyler back towards him. Considering how toothy Tyler was now, Josh is mostly kissing teeth and rutting his tongue against Tyler’s, but it’s still enough. It’s still enough to get them all hot and bothered, especially when Josh starts to bit the hard, granite skin of Tyler’s jugular. When the purring increases and Josh thinks Tyler might actually blow up, he pulls away.

“Dude, I think I’m sexually attracted to Wendigos.”

Tyler’s lips twist upward. “But only if that Wendigo is me, right?”

“Right.” Josh smiles back, leaning to press a kiss to the corner of Tyler’s mouth-- the side without all his pearly white teeth. Then, he takes his shirt off, looking Tyler right in the eyes as he tosses it to the ground. “So, yeah. Are we doing this?”

“I think it’s the beast in me that gets me feeling this horny,” Tyler admits in a low, hoarse growl. Josh’s dick presses harder against his boxers because he’s pretty sure he’s never heard Tyler’s voice be  _ this _ low before. 

“I bet it’s been a while since you’ve gotten the chance to hump anything, huh?”

“We aren’t cursed for pleasure.” 

“Then get over here, you big Wendi-baby.” With a huff, Tyler straddles Josh’s legs, his hands pressing against Josh’s chest as he starts to rut his groin vigorously against Josh’s thighs. He leans in to nip at Josh’s neck, a silent statement of mercy that says  _ look at all these teeth I have that I’m not using to tear out your throat with. _ And as fucked as he knows it is, Josh finds himself getting only more turned on by it. He never really thought he’d be one for blood, but after the events of the past week, Josh wouldn’t really be surprised. He never thought he’d have a halfbred Wendigo version of Tyler humping him, either. 

“The prey becomes the predator,” Josh jokes with half-lidded eyes. His hands curls around the waistband of Tyler’s sweats. “Want me to make you feel good?”

Tyler’s response is an animalistic whine as he leans back to slide his legs out of his sweatpants and boxers. Josh stares at his hardened cock propped perfectly against his stomach, the head a bright, flushed pink compared to the rest of his grey skin. With a shake of his head, Josh turns Tyler around, forcing him onto his stomach where he claws at the plethora of pillows strewn about. Josh slides out of his own pj bottoms and rolls around to clench one of Tyler’s ass cheeks.

“I remember how much you liked my tongue inside of you,” he whispers, his voice dripping with arousal like an ice cream cone on a summer’s day. Tyler whines, the purring a loud roar the second Josh presses his tongue flat against the entrance. Briefly, Josh wonders if this is what it’d be like to have sex with a lion: a lot of roaring, purring, and whining. Minus all the fur, of course. Perhaps Tyler is the lion, but if that’s the case, then Josh is Daniel in the lion’s den making him quiver underneath his touch.

He gently pushes his tongue inside, Tyler’s whines and ruts against the bed the incentive he needs to continue onwards. Josh’s hands clench Tyler’s ass, spreading him wide, trying to get a hold on his marble-like skin that doesn’t sustain marks like normal humans. That doesn’t stop Josh from trying though, pushing his nails deep into Tyler’s ass cheeks to show those Wendigos that Tyler is  _ his, _ and is a force to be reckoned with.

“J-Josh,” Tyler’s words tremble, “touch me, please.”

“Yeah,” Josh nods as he moves for Jenna’s bedside table to pull out the lube they used the night before she left. Josh tries not to think too much about it as he coats his hands in a generous amount and wraps one around Tyler’s stiff cock. Immediate whines begin to pour from his mouth and there is only lust in his eyes. Josh knows he should be fearing the beast greeting him, but he isn’t. Perhaps he’s got a beast of his own.

The longer Josh goes jacking Tyler off, the more strained his own dick becomes inside his underwear. In fact, he takes only one quick glance to see a growing wet spot of precome around the head of his cock.

“Can I fuck you?”

Tyler howls his eager invitation and Josh strips out of his boxers. He lubes his dick up, giving Tyler’s ass a smack for the hell of it before lining himself up. Tyler has his head buried in the blankets, his ass tilted just the tiniest bit upwards into the air for Josh to do as he pleased. This was new for the both of them, but both seemed more than excited for it.

Josh doesn’t bother prepping, only slams his cock inside of Tyler, who roars like the lion he is. He hopes the neighbors can’t hear them as he continues to rut as hard as he can, the headboard rocking loudly against the wall. Tyler’s a lot wetter than the normal human, his skin a lot smoother, so it seems he didn’t need stretching anyways for Josh’s cock to easily slide inside. Josh grunts loudly, his nails trying to break the skin of Tyler’s bare hips as he continues to fuck Tyler as hard as he can. There is no need to be gentle, not when Tyler has all this supernatural strength. Josh can do whatever he wants to tame his beast and it  _ excites  _ him.

Tyler strokes his own cock with his limber arms, his long, delicate fingers bouncing up and down his length just as roughly as Josh is fucking him. Considering the amount of time that’s passed since Tyler has had pleasure like this, he comes quickly, all over the bedsheets. It’s a lot thicker than usual, and there’s a fuckton of it, but it’s still hot, Josh concludes. That’s all he can think about as he comes inside Tyler’s ass.

“We didn’t use a condom,” is the first thing Josh says, flustered. Tyler shakes his head.

“We aren’t gonna have Wendigo butt babies, so it’s fine. God. I... I want you so badly to just do that to me over and over and over again until I pass out.”

“I didn’t realize a predator could be so submissive,” Josh grins. Tyler rolls his eyes.

“I didn’t realize someone so submissive could be so rough.”

“Fuck off, dude.”

“Think we did, J.” It’s the first time Tyler’s called him that since he returned from the woods. Josh finds himself trapped in a dreamy haze as Tyler peels himself from the come-stained sheets and wipes his seed off his stomach. “Shower, maybe?”

“That’s funny, coming from the forest dweller.”

Tyler sticks his tongue out. “Please.”

Of course, Josh goes. He can’t say no to Tyler.

 

* * *

Two weeks pass as they continue their routine of “rehumanizing” Tyler. During the day, they curl up on the sofa and watch movies. Tyler’s got a lot of catching up to do when it comes to films, so Josh is picking out all his favorites. At night, Tyler hunts and returns in the early hours of the morning to clean himself up. Josh doesn’t mind that much when Tyler’s teeth are all minty and clean and his pheromones are heightened from all the animal stuff he finished doing. They fucked like wild animals anyway, so Josh welcomed it. Tyler would always curl up next to him and press his teeth to Josh’s neck. It was comforting. It was how things should be.

They watch another movie tonight. At about eleven, Tyler’s stomach growls loudly, causing both of them to look away from the film. Tyler clears his throat.

“Would you be okay if I... went out?”

“Tired of freezer food?” Josh jokes. Tyler shrugs his shoulders. “Of course. Do what you need to do, man.”

“Yeah, okay. I... might not be back until late. Just wanna make sure I’m fully humanized before I waltz back inside.”

“Sure thing,” Josh replies cheerfully with a wave of his hand. “We can finish up the movie in the morning. Be safe, okay? I’ll leave the back door unlocked for you like usual.”

“Thanks.” Two paces later, Tyler drops silently out the back door and disappears into the woods. With a deep breath, Josh turns off the television before making his way to stare out the back door. He hears the screeches of the other Wendigos and hopes Tyler stays safe. Josh can’t do much to help if trouble arises, but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t at least try.

He’s betting on Tyler making it home alive, though, as he gets himself ready for bed. Josh pulls out two new toothbrushes from under the sink and uses tape to specifically mark which one is Tyler’s. Even if Tyler had been joking that one time, the idea of sharing the same toothbrush as someone who dines on raw meat makes him gag.

Then he settles in bed, his phone charging beside him. Josh knows he’s got text messages to answer, but the anxiety churning in his stomach makes him unable to even so much as look at them. He hates lying to people, especially Jenna, who still thinks Tyler is lost out there. As happy as it would make him to move in with her and start fresh, having Tyler around would make the both of them even more jubilant. They could be a family again. Even if the band was over and done with, having Tyler back around would make everything normal again. Well, as normal as living with a Wendigo-human hybrid would be.

Josh manages to nod off thinking about spending time with both Tyler and Jenna and dreams of the three of them at dinner for the holidays. Josh and Jenna are drinking wine while Tyler tears open his raw steaks. It’s fine. Everything is fine.

Then he’s woken up to the sound of screeching and scratching against the back of the house. In a panic, Josh scrambles for his phone, turns on the flashlight, and darts into the backyard. Sure enough, Tyler is pressed against the side of the house, a Wendigo’s claws wrapped around his throat. Tyler’s clothes are ripped to shreds and he’s coated head to toe in crimson.

“Hey, asshole!” Josh yells, shining the light directly towards the monster’s face. With a howl, it let's go, giving Tyler the opportunity to gain the upper hand. He lets out a growl of his own and kicks the creature down before plunging his claws directly into its chest. And, with hardly any effort at all, Tyler pulls out its beating heart, spraying blood everywhere. With wide eyes, Josh turns away and gags, trying his hardest to keep the contents of his stomach inside his body. A chorus of loud screeching starts up from the edge of the woods as Josh turns his attention to the bottom of the backyard. The three others scream bloody murder at Tyler dragging the dead Wendigo to their feet. They share a conversation completely in screeches and growls before they dart off into the woods, one caring the deceased body of their friend.

When Tyler turns to face him, Josh stumbles backward onto the porch and grabs hold of the doorframe. He snarls, shrinking down to all fours before scampering back into the trees.

Josh breathes heavily, trying to process what the actual  _ fuck _ just happened. Tyler killed that thing like he was ripping open a bag of chips. His head hurts and his throat bubbles with bile. He’s okay. Everything is okay.

Even though he said he would leave the door unlocked, Josh locks it regardless when he manages to climb into the house. His legs feel like jelly, so he drops into a chair at the dining table and turns to watch the dark forest with all its creepy sounds and terrifying monsters. Josh turns the porch light on too, because he really should have done that in the first place. The bloody chest of the Wendigo is fresh in his mind, burning his eyelids. Even though he had grown up around plenty of hunters, Josh had never experienced the sport himself. He wasn’t one for gore and guts, yet here he was, having to deal with it since his best friend ate wild animals.

His best friend just committed murder, too. To be fair, it wasn’t a human murder, but still murder.

His entire body shakes and as exhausted as he feels, Josh can’t sleep. His eyes stare frozen on the edge of the forest, unblinking at times as he watches for monsters. Tyler said they weren’t allowed to cross into the backyard, but one had. And if one had, who was stopping the others? The thought alone sends a shiver down his spine.

At a quarter to four, Tyler emerges from the darkness, dragging the dead carcass of what appears to be a coyote with his mouth. Josh groans into his hands. God, he wished he could go back to thinking it was coyotes causing all the spooky noises instead of cannibalistic monsters.

He sinks his fangs into it, using help from his claws to rip the stomach open and begin to indulge in its intestines. Josh gags again, but he knows he’s gonna have to be strong for Tyler’s case.

That doesn’t mean he can’t get angry, though. In fact, Josh finds himself pulling open the french doors and shouting, “dude, seriously?”

Tyler looks up and hisses, his mouth stuffed with part of a lung. Josh pushes out his chest to assert his dominance. 

“Can’t you fucking do that in the woods? What if someone sees you?”

Tyler growls at him again, and for a second, Josh thinks it might be a lost cause before Tyler picks up the body with his sharp teeth and drags it to the edge. His eyes gleam like silver discs in the woods as he finishes up his meal.

At peace, Josh decides he’s going to get some fucking sleep.

 

* * *

Despite being completely tuckered out, Josh doesn’t fall into a deep sleep. He’s in some kind of weird haze, half-asleep, half-awake and very groggy, but still conscious enough to hear the shower start. He realizes he forgot to lock the door after shaming Tyler for eating in the yard. Just that phrase alone makes it sound like he’s shaming a dog instead of his friend.

After some time, the mattress dips and Josh can hear purring as Tyler climbs up beside him. Tyler loops an arm around Josh’s waist and presses his teeth to Josh’s jugular.

“J, you awake?”

“Mmhmm,” Josh reluctantly responds with his eyelids closed. He has no intention of opening them.

“I’m sorry, about what happened earlier. I kinda, well, not kinda I guess, lost control. I really lost control. But if it hadn’t been for you saving my ass, I probably would have died, so... thanks.”

“I hope you killing one of them doesn’t lead the others straight on our ass,” Josh mutters.

“No, I think they got the message. Also... I won’t drag dead animals into the yard anymore. That was me... thinking like the beast.”

“Like a lion,” he yawns. Tyler chuckles a little.

“Yeah. Like a lion.” Tyler presses his body closer against Josh’s back, the purring growing louder. Josh is okay with it. Once upon a time white noise would have bothered the hell out of him, but Tyler’s purring really doesn’t. It’s comforting, in a way. “Sleep well, Josh.”

“Maybe if you stopped talking I would.” Josh blows a raspberry. “Sorry, that was the need for sleep talking.”

“It’s okay. Goodnight.”

“G’night,” mumbles Josh as his conscious finally allows him to slip under.

 

* * *

Four hours of sleep ain’t half bad, considering the circumstances. Josh stares at the ceiling fan and decides he’ll drink the rest of his needed sleep in caffeine.

Tyler is curled in a ball next to him, his limbs tucked nice and neat underneath his stomach like the big feline he is. Josh snorts loudly as he slides out of bed and pads into the kitchen to get the coffee machine started. Outside, the grass is stained with both Wendigo and coyote blood, causing him to sigh. He’s going to have to spend the rest of the day scrubbing blood out of the yard. What are the chances of there being something on Google that could give him some tips and tricks?

He pulls his phone out of his pocket to check and realizes he has a text from Jenna saying she’s thinking about coming home. Josh can’t possibly fathom that two weeks have passed since she left. It feels like Tyler’s been here for ages, which kinda makes sense, considering up until two years ago, it had been his house. He glances back towards the hallway and frowns. Shit. Tyler is going to freak out and retreat into the woods if Jenna even so happens to be mentioned inside the house.

Josh knows it’s taking Tyler time to warm up to this way of living, but he wishes the process would speed up a little. He didn’t want to have to keep up this lying game with Jenna, especially when he had never lied to her ever before. Even when Josh and Tyler first kissed, Josh told her. He prided himself in being honest with everyone. Truth be told, that sometimes got him into big trouble. He remembers when Tyler leaked one of their albums a few days early and when the label approached him, Josh couldn’t help but spill the beans. Tyler had been pissed off for almost an entire week after that.

If Tyler got mad about something like that, Josh couldn’t even imagine how angry he would be if he knew Jenna found out about him.

The front doorknob jiggles. Still on edge from the previous night, Josh outfits himself with a butcher’s knife from the block and slowly tiptoes into the living room. Despite the fact that the sun is up, or that it’s on the complete opposite side, he still thinks it could be a Wendigo; after all, Tyler had killed one last night.

Fortunately, it isn’t a cannibalistic monster. Unfortunately, it’s Jenna. Home early.

She looks at him curiously as the door shuts behind her. “What’s with the knife, Josh?”

“Oh, uhm, sorry. Just a bit on edge.” He sets it down on the kitchen table before striding over to pull her into a hug. He prays that Tyler is still sleeping in the master bedroom. “I didn’t expect you to be back this soon.”

“I didn’t either, but I missed the house, and...” she beams, “I really missed you, Josh. What I said on the phone is true. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

“It’s good to see you smiling,” he says, flashing one of his own. “It feels good to be smiling too.”

“This feels like the fresh start we needed. We can finally be happy.” Jenna presses her thumb to Josh’s cheek before reaching for her suitcase. When she looks back up, her face freezes in terror.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He knows exactly what she saw and Tyler slinking backward on the balls of his hands and feet is all he needs for confirmation. Jenna’s suitcase falls over onto the hardwood floors with a loud  _ thud. _

“Jen,” Josh says calmly as he holds his hands out, “I can explain.”

“Is-is-is--” Her eyes swell with tears as she struggles to get her words out. Josh looks behind him to see Tyler equally as scared, practically curling in on himself to hide away from her frightened gaze. “Ty-Ty-Tyler--”

“I know,” He reaches out slowly for her shoulders, “he’s real, but he’s not the Tyler you and I remember. He’s been through a lot, so we need to go slow, okay?”

“Tyler,” she says again through a cracked breath. Tears begin to flow and slide off her perfect, rosy cheeks. “He-he-he-- he’s alive?”

Tyler whines and backs himself into the corner of the kitchen behind the table. He has the frosted film over his eyes.

“My fucking husband is  _ alive  _ and you didn’t  _ tell me?” _ Jenna becomes hysterical, making a mad dash toward Tyler crying in the corner. Josh stops her, trying to be as gentle as he can as she begins to pummel her fists into his chest. She’s strong, he’ll give her that, and her punches sting a little, but Josh still manages to hold her back.

“Jen, I can explain. I just need you to stop--”

“Fuck you, Josh!” She screams at him, still struggling to get out his grasp. Josh waits until she exhausts herself and collapses against him, continuing to sob into his shoulder. Josh holds her tight and smooths out her hair as her body shakes.

“It’s okay,” he murmurs, shushing her, “I promise it’s going to be all okay.”

“What is he?” Josh can barely understand her through all the tears, but he knows the gig is up. It’s time to fill Jenna in.

“Tyler, go to the basement,” He demands, listening for the familiar thumping of Tyler’s inhuman limbs as he descends the stairs. Josh’s arms stay tight around the small of Jenna’s back.

“Josh, what  _ is  _ he?” Jenna pulls away to look up at her. With a sigh, Josh raises his index finger to wipe away the mascara underneath her eyes.

“He thinks he’s a monster,” Josh keeps his voice quiet, “so go easy on him, okay? He’s just as scared as you are.”

“Yeah,” Jenna nods her head, licks her lips, “he can... talk, though?”

“Yes, he can talk. You’ll have to let me talk to him first, okay? I just made coffee, so help yourself to some and calm down. We don’t want to put him on edge.”

“You’re talking about him like he’s a harmless puppy or something,” her lips press into a frown as Josh shakes his head. 

“He’s more like that than you’d think.” Josh steals a glance at the basement steps and sighs.

Today was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this before Trench in its entirety came out and I'm "ack" over all the parallels but I swear that wasn't on purpose


	3. Resolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this mess of a fic. Here's the last chapter, enjoy :-)

Sure enough, Tyler is down in the basement sobbing right along with his wife. Josh can’t even remember the last time he saw Tyler this upset. He has his head bowed down, tucked against his chest, his limbs wrapped around his chest, keeping himself safe from all the harm in the outside world.

Josh sits down in the cushioned office chair and swivels around just enough where he can see Tyler hiding in the corner. He leans forward, resting his elbows on his kneecaps and takes a deep breath.

“She wants to see you. Wants to talk to you.”

“You heard what she said.” He hikes his knees to his chest and wraps his arms around them. “She said, ‘what is he?’ Did you not see the fear in her eyes?”

“It wasn’t fear--”

“Don’t lie to me!” Tyler growls, baring his teeth. Josh rolls his eyes. 

“Okay, dude, I’m over this whole predator card you’re playing. Yeah, I know you got teeth. Now, will you listen to what I have to say?”

“You said she wasn’t coming back. You said--”

“I didn’t know she was planning on coming home just as much as you didn’t. But she’s here. So we have to deal with it.”

Tyler sniffs. Blinks. Sniffs some more.

Josh paws at his face. “I was hoping this wouldn’t be your first time back down here. This used to be your safe space. Then again, I thought we had more time.” He looks over at Tyler who meets his gaze.

“It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Not as hard. It still feels safe.”

“Good.” Josh forces a sympathetic smile and gestures to the staircase with his chin. “C’mon. She’s waiting for us up there. We can have a conversation, talk about what happens next, alright?”

“Okay.”

Reluctantly, Tyler follows Josh up the stairs and into the kitchen where Jenna is standing with a cup of coffee shaking in her hands. She smiles when Tyler rises to two legs and uncomfortably looks at the floor.

“Hi,” she whispers. Tyler’s eyes flicker upwards.

“Hey.”

“Don’t worry, that’s the first thing he said to me too,” Josh tries to lighten the mood as he steers both of them into the dining room and forces them down at the table. He sits in the middle, playing the mediator, hoping that any and all conflicts can be resolved by the end of this. He’s hoping Tyler can stay, that Jenna will be okay, and life as they knew it could return to normal. Well, as normal as possible.

“I found Tyler in the woods,” Josh starts, clasping his hands together, “as I was being chased by cannibalistic creatures.”

“Okay,” she nods her head, looking between Tyler and Josh slowly. “So I’m guessing... it wasn’t coyotes.”

“No. They’re called Wendigos. Tyler, care to explain what exactly happened two years ago?”

He sighs as he looks up to see Jenna’s face again. Josh knows he’s trying to hide the warped side of his face from her just as much as he tried to hide it from Josh. “I won’t hurt you.”

“I know that, Ty,” Jenna smiles as a fresh round of tears start up, “you’re still the prettiest man alive.”

That seems to boost his confidence a little as he straightens up and takes a deep breath. “Okay. From the beginning.”

 

* * *

 

Tyler passes on all the gory details for Jenna’s sake but tries to make his explanation as full as possible. He talks about the curse, the creatures that live near the great lakes, the deal he made to protect his friends and family. Jenna stays quiet, holding Josh’s hand, tears silently falling as she listens to Tyler’s every word. Josh can tell Jenna is nervous still, because her eyes flicker to Tyler’s jagged teeth and yellow pupils every once and awhile, pulling her out of the real world. Josh wonders if she’s thinking about what he did when he realized what Tyler was. That he was stronger, faster, and able to tear out any throat with ease. Not that he would, but it was the ‘could’ bit that was frightening.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” Tyler finishes, running his fingernails across the wood of the kitchen table. “I thought I was making the right decision. I was thinking in the now and not how it would affect people in the future.”

“So you...” There is a lump in her throat that causes her to pause and think over her words. “These... things. They starved you until you could only think about food, and then they fed you...” Jenna can’t bring herself to say it, but Tyler knows and understands.

“Yeah. Hunger kind of just... consumes you. I forgot who I was until Josh found me.”

Jenna sniffs, nods her head, “Josh, why were you in the woods in the first place?”

Josh blushes. “I was being an idiot.”

“So nothing new,” Tyler adds, a hint of a smile on his lips. It causes Jenna to smile just a bit as well.

“Josh ‘two brain cell’ Dun,” Jenna laughs as she shakes their entangled hands. Josh rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, thanks.” He’s okay with getting made fun of if it means Jenna won’t be as scared. She is already starting to feel more comfortable, starting to loosen up around her long, lost husband. “I know I’m an idiot, but Tyler was far more annoying two weeks ago when he kept growling at me.”

“That wasn’t my fault and you know it!” Tyler’s smile grows.

Jenna shakes her head. “It’s... it should be weird, right? But it’s not. It feels normal. Like things should have been.” She reaches both of her hands over the table to grab ahold of Tyler’s. He hides his face from her again, still ashamed; just like Josh predicted, Jenna doesn’t care. “I still love you, Tyler. And nothing will change that. So even if you run around the woods and drag dead animals into the yard, I will be here for you. All I’ve wanted is for you to come home alive.”

Tyler is silent, still ducking his head. He allows Jenna to mold him, to lift his chin so she can lean across the table and kiss him softly. Her thumb moves across the rents in his skin, over his teeth, presses light as a feather against his bottom lip. Josh folds his arms, unable to wipe the smile off his face even though he so badly wants to rub this is Tyler’s face. To be fair, Tyler got worked up about a lot of things, but so did Josh, so it wasn’t like any of this was new.

Okay, like, the Wendigo thing was new, but that wasn’t anything they couldn’t deal with. They’d take this one step at a time, just like when the band got big, when Tyler got married, when Josh moved away to Los Angeles.

“I love you,” Jenna says softly after she’s returned to her seat. She looks over at Josh to flash him a smile. “I love you too, Josh. I love my boys.” She’s crying again. “My boys are back.”

Josh locks eyes with Tyler as he says, “So Tyler can stay, right?”

“Of course Tyler can stay. We can be a family again.”

Tyler smiles. “Good. I thought afterward, I’d never been able to return to a normal life.”

Jenna blows a raspberry as she wipes more makeup out from under her eyes. “Tyler, you and I both know you haven’t exactly had a normal life in some time.”

She shuts him up before he can complain. “No. I don’t want to hear it. And maybe we get you some clothes that fit, huh?”

Josh is in a state of serenity. Jenna had always been good for Tyler, had always been able to provide in a way Josh couldn’t. Between the two of them, Tyler could be human again.

“So... what next?” He asks.

“Movie?” Jenna suggests like she hadn’t just discovered her husband ate people. Tyler nods his head in agreement.

“Sounds good to me.”

 

* * *

It all feels so normal, so natural, being together like this again. It’s like nothing has changed, that their life 'on the road' has been moved to life 'inside a house big enough for the three of them.' Tyler spends time in his studio, Jenna cooks, Josh runs errands.

Tyler hunts sometimes and dines on frozen meat other times. Jenna, at first, had a hard time coming to terms that she couldn't make Tyler all kinds of delicious meals anymore, but Josh wasn’t complaining too much because that just meant there was more for him.

Josh returned to the gym with the Wendigos in mind. They had yet to return since Tyler had decimated their friend, but he knew they weren’t going to give up. He needed to be strong to fend them off, to protect Tyler and Jenna. Neither Tyler nor he wanted Jenna to have to get involved with anything surrounding around supernatural creatures and wanted to keep it that way.

One Monday night, Josh returns from the grocery store to a rather loud conversation between Tyler and Jenna that seems to be getting pretty tense. When he slips in through the front door, he can see them arguing in the kitchen and sits down on the sofa to hide his presence.

“They’re your  _ family,  _ Tyler. They deserve just as much as Josh and I to know you are healthy and alive.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what they need! To see me like this!”

Jenna laughs bitterly. “Are you kidding me right now? Both Josh and I were thrilled you were still alive! What you look like doesn’t matter! You could be six feet tall and blue for all we care and we’d still love you!”

“I don’t want them to know.”

“Your family  _ hates _ Josh. They blame him for your disappearance.”

That seems to spark Tyler’s attention. Although Josh can’t see his face, he pictures Tyler to be frozen on the spot, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he so often did. When Tyler got mad, it was hard for him to form words and try and get out what he wanted to say.

“He never told me that.”

“Why would he? Josh is a good guy. He wouldn’t want to upset you. Unlike me, who is kinda pissed you won’t listen to me. You’ve been back a month. A month. That’s a month of me lying to your family about you being dead when I bring them meals. They deserve to know the truth. Even if it starts with just a phone call, at least they’ll know you’re alive and safe. It’s not like we have to go around telling the entire world, right?” She sighs. “Look. I know this curse has confined you to the house and the woods and you won’t be able to get out there to tour anymore. That’s fine. All I’m trying to get you to see that sharing with your family will make things better, not worse.”

Josh picks that moment to walk into the kitchen and let them know he’s here, simply because he feels bad for listening in on a private conversation. Jenna looks over her shoulder and smiles like they weren’t just arguing.

“Hi, love. Did you get what you need?”

Josh raises the grocery bags in his hands. “Yeah, plus some ice cream. Just because I feel like we’ve earned it.”

She laughs as he puts it into the fridge. “You were at the gym for a while today. Meet all your goals?”

“Yep.” He can feel Tyler’s on him even though nothing is coming from his mouth. It wasn’t like Tyler to be silent and made Josh feel like there was more to that argument than what he heard. “I earned these calories.”

“What kind?”

“Chocolate.” Josh closes the freezer and leans against the counter. “What were you guys talking about?”

“Nothing,” Tyler says quickly before Jenna can say anything to disprove that. One of her eyes twitches, but that smile never leaves her face.

“Nothing huge. Just dinner plans. Tyler wants to hunt tonight.”

“Have the others said anything?” Josh’s eyes flicker over to Tyler’s closed off stance. Something is wrong.

“No. Haven’t run into them.”

“They’ve been oddly quiet lately, haven’t they?”

Tyler shrugs. “I’ve been in here, so. Don’t know all that much.”

“Okay, well, I’m gonna help Jenna get dinner started, so why don’t you go take a shower?”

“If you’re that eager to get rid of me, then sure.” Tyler scampers down the hall and Josh feels himself holding his breath until the shower turns on. He doesn’t know why Tyler is being so snippy or what is going on with him, but he knows he’ll get to the bottom of it. Tyler was shit at hiding secrets.

Jenna blinks rapidly before stepping up to the counter to pull out the contents from one of Josh’s grocery sacks. He had picked up some more meat for Tyler as well as some for dinner tonight. 

Josh watches her shaking hands unpackage the meat and set it to the side before crouching to pull out a frying pan from underneath the oven. He’s not sure how much trouble it’ll get him in, but bringing it up will at least fill the awkwardness hovering around them.

“What’s up with him?”

Jenna slams the frying pan on the stovetop a little too harshly and leans to flick the burner on. “I don’t know. He’s been snippy all day. Part of me thinks he’s having a midlife crisis or something.”

“You think Wendigos can have those?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know, but it’s pissing me off. So.”

“I can try to talk to him if you’d like.”

Jenna pauses, her back hunched over as she grips the counter edge with her pink nails. She’s stressed and has every right to be. This is all new for her. “Thank you. I’m trying so hard to be there for him and sometimes it feels like he--”

“Wants us to hate him?” Josh finishes, raising an eyebrow. He pulls Jenna’s hands away from the counter and brings them to his waist so he can hug her. She accepts it and presses her head against the dip in his sternum.

“I love him. I won’t suddenly stop loving him, so I don’t understand why he’s so determined to make that happen.”

“It’s just his defense mechanism. He’s feeling insecure and afraid of himself. He just needs more time to get used to things.” He smooths over the back of her hair with the heel of his palm. “He did the same thing with me. I just think he wants to fit into the narrative he’s been constructing. Tyler sees himself as a monster and wants us to think that too.”

“But we don’t think that.”

“Exactly. He’s trying to convince us and is failing. I can have a talk with him.”

Jenna stirs against Josh’s chest as she looks up at him. “Thanks, Josh. I know there’s stuff for him that’s easier to come to you with.”

“I’ll try to knock some sense into him for you.”

“Thanks.” She moves out from the comfort of his chest to return to dinner. “I can take things from here.”

“You sure?”

Jenna flashes a smile over her shoulder. “Go talk to him.”

With a nod, Josh presses a kiss to her cheek before shuffling down the hallway to the master bedroom. The shower is still running, so Josh makes a rash decision to strip down to his birthday suit and climb in.

“Hey man,” Josh sticks his tongue out as he leans against the tiled wall with his hands planted on his hips. He’s trying his hardest to be sexy and is failing.

Tyler grunts as he turns around, shampoo suds in his hair. “So now I can’t even take a damn shower without one of you bothering me?”

“You gotta knock this shit off, man.” Josh steps forward to rest his hands comfortably around Tyler’s waist. He expects Tyler to push him away, is waiting for it, actually, but that doesn’t happen. In fact, Tyler is all for it, even pulling Josh closer to catch him in a kiss. It’s the first time in weeks they’ve kissed or been romantically involved and it sends shivers down Josh’s spine. He’s been rotating between sleeping on the sofa when Tyler’s home and sleeping with Jenna when he’s not. She’s been struggling to sleep ever since she got back from Tennessee. Jenna says she just likes the warm body, but Josh feels like deep down, there’s more to it. He thinks this because he feels the same way she does. 

“Ty,” Josh whispers again as Tyler presses his teeth against his jugular, “please talk to me.”

Tyler doesn’t reply right away, instead, letting the warm water rain down from above. Josh smooths back Tyler’s sudsy hair before resting his hand at the nape of Tyler’s neck.

Finally, in a quiet voice, Tyler announces, “This isn’t over.”

Donning a frown, Josh pulls away. “Whaddya mean?”

He shakes his head. “They’ve been too quiet. I killed one of them and they haven’t said anything. I’m just waiting for something terrible to happen. Things have been good for too long.”

“Dude, that doesn’t mean anything. Maybe they’re finally leaving us alone.”

A sigh. “This isn’t just me being pessimistic. This is the monster in me sensing danger from the  _ other  _ monsters. I can’t really describe it, but it’s like... a tingly feeling.”

“Spidey-sense?” Josh grins smugly, causing Tyler to snort. 

“Yeah. Exactly. I’m just waiting for something bad to happen.”

“Hey, hey, that’s not gonna happen, okay? Jenna and I are here for you. Whatever comes next, we can figure this out together, the three of us.”

“That’s just the thing, J. I never wanted to get you or Jenna involved in all of this.”

“Tyler, look at me.” Josh cups Tyler’s jaw tightly and runs his thumbs over his cheekbones. “You didn’t involve us. We involved ourselves because we care about you. I don’t want you to have to go through this all by yourself.”

“I’m scared.”

“Me too. And so is Jenna. But we gotta push through it. Fear comes around all the time and all we can do is prove that it can’t control us.” 

“Yeah. Yeah, maybe.” He’s still moping, but Josh knows he’ll be able to cheer Tyler up. He’s gotten pretty good about that over the years.

“Here,” Josh is soft, yet his tone comes as more of a demand than a suggestion. Still, Tyler complies, letting his body go slack so Josh can move him against the wall. He steps forward to pull Tyler in for another kiss. Josh’s hands slide along Tyler’s sides, feeling his muscles, thumbing at his nipples. Their tongues collide, like ocean waves to the shore, as Josh ruts against the man that he once thought he had lost forever. He holds Tyler close to him, wanting to stay in the shower for as long as possible, wanting to freeze time to prolong every passing second they share together.

“Can I blow you?” Whispers Josh huskily. Tyler shivers.

“God, yeah.” With a smile, Josh slowly lowers himself onto his knees using Tyler’s hips as support. With slick skin underneath his pruning fingers, he kisses Tyler’s kneecaps before gliding to the inside of his thighs. Josh’s kisses are as soft as a butterfly’s wing as he trails his way up to mouth at Tyler’s balls.

“Dude, please,” his eyelids flutter as he rocks his groin upwards, “I can’t handle all this foreplay.”

“‘M just trying to give you all my love.”

“Well, maybe all your love should be like my blood: in my dick.”

Josh scoffs, but complies with Tyler’s request and goes to lick from the head of his dick to the base. As Tyler trembles underneath him, Josh fastens his hands around Tyler’s thighs to balance his weight as he takes the glands into his mouth.

“Fuck,” Tyler moans as his hands fumble against Josh’s short hair, trying to find purchase amidst the soap and warm water. “J, so  _ good.” _

Josh takes him in his mouth deeper, feeling the head press against the back of his throat. It had been a while since he had given a blowjob, so he’s surprised he’s able to do this without gagging. He takes Tyler’s praise with excitement and makes it his goal to make Tyler have the best orgasm of his life. Tyler deserves this. Josh knows he’s been struggling with this new life, and if this is how Josh needs to show his love, then so be it.

Tyler rides the high with a loud, gasp for breath when he comes, Josh’s nails digging into Tyler’s quivering thighs. His entire body shakes, but Josh works Tyler through it, letting the taste slide down his throat, dribble down his chin.

And when Tyler has finished, Josh pulls himself up, slipping a little and causing their noses to bump. With a shared chuckle, Tyler wraps an arm around the back of Josh’s neck for one last kiss.

“I’m sorry I’ve been such an asshole lately. I’ve been projecting because I feel like shit about myself.”

“And you don’t need to.”

“I know. But I have been. I’m--”

“Waiting for everything to go wrong,” finishes Josh with a sigh. “I know. But we’re here to help you, okay?”

Tyler nods his head. “Seriously, the both of you-- how did I get lucky?”

“We think the same thing about you, y’know.” With one last kiss to Tyler’s forehead, Josh spins him around. “Get the shampoo out of your hair, dork. Jenna’s making dinner.”

A grin crosses that toothy, beautiful face of his. “Okay.”

 

* * *

Jenna forgives Tyler with ease after he apologizes, which is no surprise, and their dinner is fantastic. Tyler even eats politely this time, using a knife and fork instead of his claws.

Afterward, they curl up on the sofa to watch a movie. It’s another one Tyler missed during his two years in the woods and he has his teeth pressed against Josh’s neck. Jenna sits on Josh’s side, her hand resting comfortably on his thigh. Josh feels safe between his two favorite people. It was the life he had always dreamed about for years and years and years; as much as he loved touring, living home life was nice. This was the normal adult life he had never gotten to live throughout all his years of being a drummer.

“This is nice,” he says out loud, prompting attention from both Jenna and Tyler. Jenna smiles widely and pecks his cheek.

“We love you, sweetheart.”

Tyler nuzzles further into his neck. “It’s the weird, normal life we never got, huh?”

“Considering I’m married to Tyler and we both sleep together, I wouldn’t call this completely normal,” Jenna raises an eyebrow, that smile still pressed firmly on her lips. “But it’s our normal, right?”

“Did you guys sleep together again?” Tyler asks. Josh can’t tell where this question is heading or what it will lead to, but he hopes it won’t get weird.

“Not since you came home.”

“Tyler also tears out the throats of wild animals, so.” Josh shrugs his shoulders. “Our normal.”

“Are you uncomfortable with that, Tyler?” Jenna is still looking avidly at her husband, who Josh still can’t figure out is upset or completely fine with the road this is going down.

“No. Do you think I am?”

“I just think it’s weird that you brought that up, is all.”

Tyler coughs. “You brought it up. Saying you slept with Josh and me.”

“Guys, we should talk about like, Tyler eating things, yeah? Or maybe the movie? Yeah, sounds like a better idea.” Josh can feel his cheeks turning red and his stomach is churning. This won’t end well.

“You sleep with Josh.” The smile is gone now and her arms are folded across her chest. “So why is it bad when I do it? I’m the one who gave you permission, Ty. This all started because of what  _ you _ said.”

Tyler stands up. “I don’t care that you slept with Josh.”

Jenna stands up too, leaving Josh to awkwardly try and make the sofa swallow him whole. “Obviously you do care if you brought it up.”

“I don’t care. It wouldn’t be fair for me to hold you to a standard I don’t follow. That’s not what’s bothering me.”

“Then what is?”

“This isn’t normal!” His voice finally cracks. “None of this is normal!  _ I’m not normal!” _

Josh sighs. “Tyler--”

“No!” Tyler points an accusing finger at Josh still curled on the couch. “Don’t. Please don’t.”

Jenna doesn’t say anything, but there is the familiar glint of tears in her eyes. Tyler shakes his head rapidly and takes a few steps toward the kitchen. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, and before either of them can say anything, Tyler is gone.

 

* * *

 

Josh sleeps next to Jenna that night. She spends hours crying into his chest, sobbing about how she’s failing as a wife and how Tyler will never be happy again. Josh promises her that’s not true, that Tyler is just going through a lot of mixed emotions, but even he’s not sure if he believes that. Tyler truly hated what he had become and it broke Josh’s heart.

It wasn’t his fault, none of it, but Tyler took full responsibility. 

And Josh was starting to believe that Tyler wished he was still the creature ripping out hearts in the woods.

 

* * *

He hears loud screeching that night from the woods that Josh hasn’t heard in quite some time. It keeps him up, on edge, his arms kept protectively around Jenna. Josh keeps thinking about what Tyler said in the shower. He was waiting for those things to come back and get their revenge. It had been a long time since the other Wendigos had communicated in the freedom of the woods or even showed quick flashes of their grey skin. Josh knew he could take them, had been working to make sure he could fend them off. Even they had to wrestle in the woods again, Josh would make sure he wouldn’t drop his phone this time. 

Jenna stirs on top of him. Her breaths are irregular and make Josh think she’s having a nightmare. He almost wants to wake her up, because guaranteed, it has something to do with Tyler or with the howling creatures in the woods. Jenna’s never even seen what those things look like, so whatever her mind is creating can’t be as scary as what they actually look like. He prays she’ll never have to encounter a Wendigo other than Tyler. 

It’s funny, just then, that God seems to really hate him, because a loud crash comes from the front room, filling the air with the shrill pierce of broken glass and the crack of the doorframe. Jenna jolts awake with a gasp, her eyes wide and her forehead perspiring. 

“What was that?” She whisper-yells. Their answer comes in the form of an ear bleeding scream.

“Fuck,” Josh scrambles out of bed and darts for the door, “stay here!”

“Absolutely not!” Jenna follows him down the hallway right on his heels, and despite his determination to keep Jenna safe, right now his focus is getting that creature out of the house.

“You aren’t supposed to be here!” He yells as he makes away around the corner. Josh comes to a screeching halt, causing Jenna to run right into him. 

In front of them, covered in blood with tiny shards of glass embedded in his skin, is Tyler, holding onto his last lick of life. The other three Wendigos tower seven feet tall in the wrecked frame of the French doors. Rain pours outside, causing wisps of fog to rise from the porch light. Their eyes hold power and Josh knows he needs to be clear and concise if he wants to save Tyler’s life.

“J-Josh,” Jenna stutters as she reaches for his hand, “those t-things—"

“I know, I know. Go help Tyler, okay?”

With a nod, Jenna scurries over to kneel down next to Tyler and uses a hand towel to wipe the blood off his face. He sees the silent exchange of ‘okay? okay’ between them as he steps forward with his hands held out as what hopefully comes across as a symbol of peace. 

“Get!” He points towards the woods, hoping they really are just like harmless cats and will listen to him. “You aren’t allowed to be here!”

Josh’s answer comes in the form of a loud cry.

“Josh,” Tyler’s weak voice comes from behind him, “they want me dead. Because of what I did.”

“No, Ty, nononono—" Jenna breaks down into sobs as she helps Tyler into a sitting position. He pulls her in for a hug.

Josh licks his lips as he looks between his best friend and the creatures that stole him from his family. The Wendigos are threatening, ready to pounce at any time. “You said you’d leave him alone.  _ You _ said you wouldn’t come into his yard and hurt his family!”

He gets more screaming, so Tyler translates. “They said I broke the deal when I killed one of,” he swallows, “our own.”

Josh keeps his eyes on the Wendigos. “Tyler, what were you doing out there?”

“They’ll hurt you too if you don’t let them have me. I’m sorry, I fucked everything up—"

“Ty, no!” Jenna’s grip on her husband tightens. Josh shakes his head. 

“We just got him back.” There’s a frog in his throat. “We just got him back, you BASTARDS!”

They screech so loudly that Josh’s eardrums ring. One of them makes an advance, causing Josh to rush a few steps forward. 

“Woah, woah, woah wait. Wait.”

“Josh, please. Let them take me. It’ll be okay—"

“No, it’s not gonna be okay!” Josh whips his head around with tears glistening in his eyes. “Jenna needs you. I need you.”

“I’m the one who fucked up.”

Tyler was the one who sacrificed everything in the first place so everyone else could be happy. He was selfless— always thought of everyone’s happiness before his own, and Josh couldn’t let Jenna lose him again.

He shakes his head as he slowly turns back to face the monsters in his kitchen. “No. No. Take me.”

“What?!” Tyler and Jenna exclaim at the same time. The Wendigo in front tilts its head. It must be the leader. 

Josh continues. “If you let Tyler stay here, and you leave him  _ and _ Jenna alone, you can take me. I’ll—" The words get stuck in his throat. “You can... have me. For whatever you want.”

“Josh, no. Absolutely not—"

“Tyler, please. Let me do this. Jenna needs you.”

“We need you!” Jenna cries. Josh doesn’t dare to look behind him because he knows he’s about to break down into tears. 

“You have both sacrificed everything. I want you to be happy. All I’ve ever wanted is for you guys to be happy.”

“You can’t do this,” Tyler pleads, yet Josh doesn’t need to see the look on his face to know he won’t stop him. Tyler understood sacrifice. It was him or Josh— and he had already had his turn. 

“It’s either you or me. And I know Jenna wants you.”

“Josh, no. Please don’t do this.”

He bites his lip and locks eyes with the center Wendigo as a way to silently ask,  _ do we have a deal? _

It reaches one lanky arm out to grab him by the front of his shirt and tosses him out into the backyard with ease. He rolls painfully down the porch steps and grunts as rainwater soaks his shirt. Jenna screams again as Josh struggles to pick himself up from the wet grass. The Wendigos are gathered around him, down on all fours to drag him back into the depths of dark woods.

One takes a swipe at his leg, tearing a gash in his pajama pants and deep into his skin. Adrenaline and shock kick in as the blood starts pouring out of his wound. From the shimmer of the porch light, he can see Tyler and Jenna watching in hysterics, Jenna pressed into Tyler’s shredded chest.

_It wasn’t supposed to be like this_ , Josh thinks, especially when he feels the pop of his shin bone being fractured. They’re immobilizing him, making Josh unable to escape, since they are aware of the stupid decision he made in return for Tyler and Jenna’s immunity. He knows things aren't going to end well, that these creatures are either going to eat him or turn him, but Josh is hoping it’ll be a quick death. Tyler and Jenna can be happy again. That’s all he ever wanted for them.

Tyler’s sad, yellow eyes are the last thing Josh sees as he gets dragged into the forest by the ankle, his vision masked by darkness and fog from the rain. They give Josh hope.

He knows he made the right decision.

 

* * *

Josh falls in and out of consciousness over the next twenty-four hours. The pain in his leg makes him unable to even move his ankle; one twitch sends searing pain throughout his body. The Wendigos have left him alone in the corner of their cave to observe the atrocities when he manages to crack open his puffed up eyelids. Tyler had been right. Decapitated bodies hang from the ceiling with strips of skin peeled off and limbs missing. It makes him sick to his stomach, seeing all the flies buzzing around and maggots burrowing inside, but Josh is sure he would have thrown up regardless because of the pain.

He wants to be strong if they try to make him one of their own, wants to refuse to eat what they give him as long as possible. Tyler succumbed to the hunger, but he won’t. He can’t. Even though he knows this was his choice, that he sacrificed himself and knew no one was coming, a part of Josh is hoping that Tyler will come back. Tyler knew these woods like the back of his hand, knew how to defeat the monsters that came down from the lakes. Together, they could defeat these creatures for good. The curse may continue to reign, but at least the only Wendigo they’d have to deal with for now would be Tyler, who was also half human and knew how to control himself. These other creatures had once been human and had let the curse devour them whole, turning them into monsters. There was no saving the others. 

They had to be destroyed.

Josh knew he wouldn’t be able to do it by himself, especially not now that they had broken his leg. It’s gotta be infected too because it’s swollen three times the size and covered in an array of blue and purple splotches. He hasn’t been feeling too hot either, which was another sure sign of infection.

No, he would need Tyler’s supernatural strength and speed to take these things down and make Ohio safe again. The whole thing sounded ridiculous but needed to be done.

All Josh needed to do was hope that some way, somehow, Tyler would come for him. It wouldn’t be immediately, since he had sustained some gnarly injuries the previous night, but Josh could hold out. He was strong and had been preparing for the Wendigos to return. To be fair, he hadn’t expected this, but he could survive.

No. Josh  _ had _ to survive.

During the day, the creatures sleep. Their sharp claws allow them to scale the walls of the cave with ease for their midday snacks and sleep practically anywhere in the cave, defying gravity or not. Josh folds himself as tightly into the corner as possible, hoping he can hide long enough until Tyler comes for him. He leans his head against the outcropping of the rock wall to help with the pain and keep himself conscious enough to be alert. Josh breathes through his mouth because the smell is putrid. He thought he’d be used to it by now, but it’s a smell so intense that it seems like that might not happen.

At night, Josh is left alone as the monsters hunt. He listens to their shrieks and howls, wondering if Tyler is out there hunting. Tyler could very well be fighting with them as well.

Yet, when all three of them return, Josh’s stomach sinks.

 

* * *

He tries to picture how cramped this place was when there were nine of them living in here. They probably didn’t care all that much for personal space, considering the amount of room they had between the three of them and the choice they made to sleep piled on top of one another. Maybe it was an animal instinct. Josh assumed it could also be a human thing, because he liked touch and being close to those he loved every once in a while. Were these creatures capable of love? Or did they only care about eating?

Obviously, they were intelligent. They had understood Josh’s offer and picked him instead of Tyler. They understood that Josh needed food and always left bits and pieces of human within reaching distance. He never touched it, not even after being here for a week, (at least, Josh thought it was a week, he had lost track of time) despite how parched and hungry he was getting. He had never gone this long without having at least  _ something _ to eat. Being on tour, he and Tyler were used to messed up eating schedules and insufficient meals, but it was nothing compared to the hunger he was feeling inside these cave walls. It was ravenous.

Josh knew how Tyler felt now. He knew it had to do with the curse that hung over the Great Lakes region, the evil that hovered above them. It definitely didn’t help that Josh was living with three cannibalistic monsters, either. Sometimes they’d watch him with those piercing yellow eyes in uncomfortable silence. They weren’t forcing him because they knew he would break soon. You could only go so long with food and water-- and the fact that Josh had gone a week with water meant the curse was keeping him alive because it also knew he would crack. He would cry, but there was literally no moisture left in his body. His leg at this point was covered in pus-filled sores and crusty, blackened blood.

Was the curse only keeping him awake because it knew just as well as him that there was no other choice? If Josh managed to escape and get home, would he die from dehydration and infection?

This was it. This was something he needed to do to keep himself alive. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad-- Josh had always heard human meat tasted like chicken. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to taste the difference.

He wants to hit himself for even having thoughts like that. No. Josh will not succumb to his hunger. He refuses. He would rather starve himself to death for Tyler and Jenna’s safety than add himself to the group of monsters terrorizing the woods. The idea is less, not more. 

But then, because Josh is delirious, he begins to think about what being a Wendigo is like— and what it would be like having sex with Tyler. He knows it would rough and hard, and unlike anything they’ve ever done before. Both of them running on animal instinct, focusing on nothing but what’s in front of them as they rutted against each other until one of them collapsed. 

It shouldn’t be something he’s thinking about, since he’s trying to fight off an ancient cannibalistic curse, but it’s distracting him. It’s distracting him enough to keep the hunger and thirst off his mind. Sure, he’s thinking about Wendigo sex with the man he’s desperately in love with, but that’s normal, right?

Yikes. He really is delirious. Every one of his thoughts is circling back around to hunger. Josh wonders if this is what Tyler thought about when he was trapped in here. Did the others break his leg too?

Maybe if he had enough adrenaline, Josh could escape. He’d only need to be on his leg long enough to hide-- no. They could probably smell all the blood encrusted into his open wounds. Josh would die anyway.

Besides, he had read on the internet somewhere that adrenaline actually slowed you down, not helped you out. Josh isn’t sure if that’s true or not, considering it’s the internet.

He decides to try and catch some more sleep-- the poor man’s dinner.

And God knows how much he needed that.

 

* * *

Josh loses track of how many days have passed. All he can think about is the hunger inside of him. It has to have been at least a hundred days since he ate, yeah? If he eats, everything gets better. He can sleep less. His bones won’t hurt. Maybe even his eyes will stop burning.

If he eats, his throat won’t be raw and he won’t need to worry about drinking water.

One of the Wendigos approaches him. He watches it push the meat closer to him and hears a voice at the back of his head beg him to eat it. All he has to do is eat it. It doesn’t matter what it is. Maybe it’s a squirrel or a coyote. Maybe even a raccoon. Josh can’t be sure, right? He’s being offered food, he should take it.

He should take it.

The creature leans closer to him, tilting its head as its beady yellow eyes blink at him. It reaches out to dig its claws into his swollen kneecap. A scream escapes Josh’s chapped lips involuntarily, causing the Wendigo to only push harder. It opens its mouth to shriek at him and uses its other hand to push Josh’s meal against his leg.

All it wants is for him to eat. Josh is being rude by refusing its offering, right? Right?

When he picks it up, the Wendigo backs off to stare at him again. Josh forces a smile.

“Thank you,” he whispers hoarsely, raising it to his mouth.

And when his teeth sink into it with ease, Josh is healed.

 

* * *

“It’s been an entire month, Tyler. You have to go look for him.” Jenna pleads with her husband as he paces back and forth across the length of their living room. “You know these things better than Josh and I combined. You can stop them, save him--”

“He knew what he was doing,” Tyler stops to argue, pointing a finger at her. “I was content with dying and he--”

“Because he loves you, Tyler! I would have done the same thing if given the chance. That does not mean we abandon him out there to die!”

Tyler shakes his head. “He’s not dead. I know that for a fact. They’re trying to build their clan back up to nine. A month has passed, which means Josh is one of them. We can’t bring him back.”

“He brought you back.”

That causes him to stop dead in his tracks. “That... that’s different.”

Jenna jumps off the sofa. “How? How is that different? You told me that seeing him triggered some kind of response to the human inside of you. Doing that for him would most likely result in the same thing.”

Tyler sighs. “Jen, the transformation starts as soon as the taste of human flesh touches the tongue. If Josh continued eating, he’s not going to be like me. He’s going to be like those things that tossed me through the back door like a frisbee. And I’m not bringing that back into your life.”

“Then I’m going to go out there and look for him.” Jenna folds her arms across her chest and straightens her posture. She’s a good foot shorter than Tyler, but that doesn’t mean she won’t kick his ass if she needs to. Jenna was used to disobeying Tyler’s stupid decisions and rules.

“Like hell you are.”

“Try me.” She glares at him. “He’s family, and he needs our help. We aren’t giving up on him. So if I gotta kick some supernatural ass, so be it. If Josh has any chance of being rescued, it’s worth going out to find him.”

“I’m not giving up on him. I’m just assuming the worst.”

“Okay, well, I’m assuming the best. So let’s meet in the middle and say I’m right.”

A snort. “I thought I’d have a little bit of leverage with the ‘I look like a terrifying beast’ thing I got going on now.”

Jenna smirks. “Nice try, love. We’re going to get him. I won’t take no for an answer.”

Tyler takes a long pause to think about his answer. He wants to bring Josh home. He wants to kiss Josh again and tell him everything is going to be alright. Tyler’s just scared that he’s too late, and to go out into the woods he almost died in to see his best friend running around with those asshat monsters would break his heart. It already broke him that he wasn’t able to stop Josh from sacrificing himself, that he didn’t  _ want _ to stop Josh from doing that. Tyler didn’t want to leave, especially not after he had been given a second chance at a semi-normal life. He needed Jenna back in his life.

Tyler was selfish. He knew that. And if they managed to bring Josh back alive, he would apologize.

“Okay,” he agrees after a few moments of silence. “You’re right. We’ll look for him. But you have to follow my lead, got it? I’m the one with the claws and the sharp teeth. They’ll tear into you like wrapping paper.”

“Fair enough. My sexy, intimidating husband can make the monsters go away.” She steps forward to pull Tyler in for a kiss and Tyler lingers when she goes to pull away. Sometimes he still can’t believe he managed to score such a dime piece wife.

His hand smooths down the flyaways in her hair. “Let’s go get Josh.”

 

* * *

It’s raining again when Tyler goes out to get the search party going. Jenna stands indoors, the porch light on, ready to stun and blind any Wendigos deciding to try their luck by stepping into the Joseph backyard. Tyler is hoping he can find Josh alive and coherent enough to get help to take the others down. Two against three is a lot better than one. And everyone saw how poorly that went over last time Tyler decided to be brave.

There is a new howl in the air tonight that makes Tyler’s skin crawl. That howl has an owner, and the owner’s name is Josh.

Tyler feels like he can hear Josh’s voice within the screech and it makes him have the tiniest bit of hope that there is still some humanity inside of him. He knows he’s a pessimist, so he must really be going somewhere if he has hope that Josh isn’t a lost cause.

Who knows, though. Tyler could come back empty handed.

And of course, as he’s running through the woods with the other Wendigo’s stench in his nose, Tyler still manages to find them before he finds Josh. Of course. Nothing can ever be easy for him.

They’re all together, hunting as a clan, which means Josh can’t be too far away. Tyler can feel his heart pounding in his ribcage as they lean back on their haunches and hiss at him. He knows what they’re saying.  _ Get out. You aren’t welcome here. _

Yeah, well, he was plenty aware of that.

Tyler crouches down into a defensive position as they begin to shriek loudly at him, telling him to leave before he gets hurt. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy.

The one on the left launches itself at him first and Tyler ducks out of the way as a reflex, sending it catapulting into the tree behind him. Above, lightning illuminates the sky and the downpour of rain plummeting toward the earth. As he dances between the three creatures trying to brutally murder him, he keeps his eye out for any sign of Josh. At first, he thinks Josh maybe back at the nest before a loud crack of bone rumbles low in Tyler’s eardrums and he spots the fuzzy outline of Josh’s hunched back in the hanging brush of the trees. His ears perked, Tyler throws another screaming Wendigo off of him and decapitates it with ease before chucking both the head and body into the bushes behind him. The other two become more furious, their yelling alerting Josh, who looks up from his meal. Tyler is more than relieved to see he’s only stripping the flesh off a raccoon instead of a kidnapped human being.

He’s also glad ‘newborn vampire’ rules down apply here either, or else he’d be absolutely terrified to see Josh sprinting at him full speed ahead. Tyler tries to duck, but Josh gets him first, sending them tumbling across the muddy path. A couple of birds squawk and flee from the branches above them as Tyler gets his bearings just in time to stop the other two from ripping his limbs off. Considering how terrible his last encounter with three Wendigos went, Tyler is quite impressed in how he’s handling the situation.

Josh gets distracted by the scurrying of another animal, alerting the ‘food’ sensor in his brain and runs off to eat, leaving Tyler to deal with the others. They’re trying desperately hard to team up against him, with one clinging onto the tree trunk like a koala and the other attacking him from the ground, but Tyler is managing to stand his ground. He kicks one in the stomach and buys himself some time to jump up and yank the one down from the tree. His sharp claws drawn, Tyler uses all his force to jam his hand into the chest cavity of the Wendigo and rip out its beating heart. As the light fades from the creature’s eyes, Tyler tosses the heart to the side and leaps forward for the last one. It’s putting up a fight, using its long limbs to defend itself from Tyler’s claws trying to pull its eyes out. It kicks Tyler hard in the stomach and he rolls through the grass and wet leaves with a hard  _ thud. _ His breaths are hard and uneven as he pulls himself back up onto all fours and glares at the monster in front of him.

“You did this to me!” He screams as loud as he can over the roar of the wind and rain. “You did this to Josh! You ruined  _ EVERYTHING!” _

He swears that stupid snaggletooth bitch is smirking as it screeches back its response. Tyler can’t make it out clearly, but he thinks it’s something along the lines of a long string of curse words.

And before he can make the first move, Josh shoots out of the darkness, plunging his claws into the last Wendigo’s waist and pulling it completely in half. Its organs and intestines slide out of its body, its blood oozing a dark blue, as he tosses the pieces to the side and hisses loudly at who he thinks is the last enemy.

It’s the first time Tyler has gotten the proper chance to check out what his best friend has become. The process stopped halfway through, just like Tyler’s, and he’s had an abnormally fast amount of hair growth to the point where it curls over his brows just enough to have him constantly flicking it out of his face like a dog with fleas. He doesn’t have nearly as many teeth poking out of his skin, but the entire right side of his face is covered in purple and blue bruises, with those unsettling yellow eyes staring at him.

His limbs as just as elongated as Tyler’s, allowing him to lean back on his haunches and growl. Tyler moves himself to two legs so he can raise his hands as a symbol of peace and work his way through this.

“Josh? Hey, buddy. It’s me, Tyler.”

Josh tilts his head slightly to the left that makes him look more like a lost puppy than a vicious murderer. Tyler takes another step forward.

“I’m really, really sorry that it took me so long to come and find you. To be honest, I thought you wouldn’t be strong enough to resist. I’m glad you proved me wrong. I shouldn’t have underestimated you. And now that you’re here, we can go home. Jenna is gonna be really excited to see you.”

Josh emits a low growl from the back of his throat as he bares his teeth. Tyler understands now why that annoyed both Jenna and Josh. It didn’t make him look threatening; it made him look stupid.

“J. Jish. It’s me. C’mon pal, you remember me, right?” Nothing. Tyler takes a step, and another one, and another one. “We’ve known each other for a long, long time. You’re the one that saved me from the others, and now I’m here to return the favor. I’ll get you home, get you in the tub, clean that muck off of you. You can even use my toothbrush this time if you'd like.”

Josh’s growling halts long enough for Tyler to close the gap between them. As Tyler sinks to his knees, Josh breaks down into sobs, smooshing his mud-stained face into Tyler’s chest. Tyler hugs him tightly, silently crying along right with him.

“I’m so sorry,” Tyler murmurs into his ear as he strokes the back of his head. “I should have come sooner.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Josh cries back, not even upset over Tyler’s late appearance. Of course-- He’s talking about the monster part that consumed him whole. “I didn’t want to.”

“Shh, I know, I know.” Tyler presses a kiss to Josh’s forehead. “Let’s get you home.”

 

* * *

None of them thought it would be this easy, especially not after what had happened nearly three months ago. Jenna was now dealing with two hyperactive hybrid Wendigos instead of one, but she was surprisingly dealing with it very well. Leave it to Jenna to still be full of surprises after all these years. The only thing she was upset about was that she would no longer be able to cook for them since their diet consisted of only raw meat.

For Josh, believing in the supernatural was easy-- after all, he had been the one to find Tyler in the woods. The hard part was realizing that he now  _ was _ the supernatural. Every single time he caught sight of himself in the mirror, his heart dropped. Tyler told him he had struggled with it too, but it was only Jenna who was around for now, and she loved them just the same.

But Josh couldn’t lie to his family. He hadn’t visited in a while, and since he couldn’t leave the vicinity of the house anymore, it wasn’t like he would be visiting. They deserved to know what happened to him, as did Mark.

Tyler had said they’d figure that out later after Josh was comfortable with his new lifestyle. It had taken some time to get over the burning in his throat and the beast within him that always wanted to eat, but once he figured out that part, the rest was smooth sailing.

Josh shouldn’t be surprised that these supernatural creatures he and Tyler had become needed just as much love and affection as any other wild animal, but he is. He feels a stronger pull to Tyler; they can communicate in a series of whines and clicks that leaves Jenna in utter confusion and every time Tyler touches him, he starts to purr. He’s been feeling extremely horny within the last few weeks as well, which has been a pain in the ass. Josh has had a semi-permanent boner for what feels like fucking  _ forever. _

Josh is brushing his teeth with Tyler comes into the bathroom to piss. He squeezes Josh’s ass on his way to the toilet and grins when Josh shoots him a look.

“Hey, dude.”

“Yeah?” There’s a little bit of toothpaste on the few teeth poking through the skin of his cheek that Josh can’t be bothered to wipe away. He spits and turns toward Tyler who has a hand wrapped around his dick and pointed towards the toilet bowl.

“I think Wendigos have a mating season.”

Josh scoffs. “You think?”

“Every time I see you, I want to fucking rip your clothes off and fuck you so hard you won’t be able to sit for a week.”

Josh’s abdomen stirs with arousal. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about you fucking me within the last week.”

Tyler’s wolf-like grin grows wider as he adjusts himself and moves to wash his hands. “That’s good to hear. All jokes aside though, how are you doing?”

Josh answers with a long sigh. He’s staring at his yellow eyes in the reflection of the mirror and finally bothers to wipe the spittle off his face before rinsing his toothbrush under the water Tyler is currently washing his hands with. “I’m doing better, I think.”

“You think?” Tyler knocks his hip against Josh’s and wipes his wet hands on a bath towel. “Not, you know?”

“I dunno. Maybe. Maybe not. It’s kinda hard to gauge. Some days I wake up feeling great and just being with you and Jenna makes me happy. Other times, when I see myself, think of what I did... I feel like shit.”

Tyler pats Josh’s shoulder and beckons for him to follow him to the bed. When they sit down side-by-side, Tyler squeezes Josh’s thigh. “What happened on that night three months ago was really brave of you, J. I can’t believe you really sacrificed yourself for me.”

They were finally getting around to talking about things since Josh came home. The time just hadn’t been right because Josh was still freaked out of his mind and trying to figure out how to live his new life as a half-Wendigo half-human hybrid. He appreciated Tyler waiting, but wished they could avoid this conversation altogether. It had to happen eventually, though.

“Of course I did. You had already done it once. I wasn’t going to let that happen again. At that moment, keeping you and Jenna safe mattered a lot more than my own life.”

“I know. And I think... that’s why I felt so bad. I should have stopped you, but I couldn’t bring myself to give in again. Then, Jenna kept sobbing to me about rescuing you, and I refused. I thought they would break you, that you would give in right away and not be able to hold out on stopping. I thought that when I came back into those woods, you...” He pauses to collect himself. “You’d look like them.”

“I tried as long as I could. I think I would have died if it hadn’t been for that curse. And then I started making excuses, thinking all these terrible thoughts. They broke my leg. The pain was so bad, and I was so fucking thirsty...” Josh shakes his head. “All I could think was if I eat, everything will be fine. All I have to do is eat. And so I did, and I lost control of myself. I can’t even remember what happened during that month. All I could think of was eating. I wanted to eat  _ everything.” _

“You helped me out at least,” Tyler offers encouragingly, “took one of those bastards down before it could take me out, so, thanks.”

Josh chuckles. “I probably saw the both of you as a threat.”

“You recognized me, though.” Tyler smiles warmly and Josh returns it. He reaches out for Tyler’s hand.

“Don’t think I could ever forget a face as pretty as yours.”

Tyler rolls his eyes. “I know this whole thing is fucked up, but we can make it work, okay? I’m not going to give up on you. Jenna isn’t going to give up on either of us. We can be a family, just like you said.”

“One hell of a weird family.”

“You’re right, but it’s  _ our _ family.” He takes a deep breath. “I think we should tell our parents. You were right. They do deserve to know what happened to me, and what happened to you. That way they can at least visit. I know things are gonna be awkward, and they’ll probably be a bit scared at first, but--”

“It’s a start,” Josh finishes for him. They share another smile.

“When I said it would be you and me forever, I didn’t think it’d be like this.”

“Still nice though.”

A nod. “You’re right. It’s still nice.”

“Tyler, Josh! Get in here. We’re gonna watch a movie!” Jenna’s sweet voice calls from the living room. They both look at each other.

“If you can hold out until after the movie’s over, I’ll fuck you for an entire hour.”

Josh can feel his cock bulging against his briefs. “Deal.”

They shake hands and join Jenna in the living room.

It was never the life they pictured, but the life they were given. They were thankful to still be alive and to have people that loved them. Josh didn’t mind being half-monster because the two most important people in his life didn’t care. They loved him, and he loved them.

And that was the way it was always going to be.

**Author's Note:**

> pastelxmess on tumblr :-) ENJOY TRENCH!


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